John and Monica Park's busy brood may best be described as a whirling dervish of musical instruments, sequined leotards and cheerleading pompons.
Immersed in a smattering of activities ranging from dance team to accelerated-learning classes, the Parks hop from playing fields to recitals, watching their six good-natured girls perform, compete and learn."We've encouraged our girls to find whatever they enjoy, and we will support them in it," Monica Park said. "We think the extracurricular parts of school are ways to learn."
But that also comes at a cost. And a growing number of parents and educators fear the public-school price tag for supplies, school clothes, class registration and school activities is rising out of reach.
It's a double whammy: After paying property taxes for the welfare of education, parents also are hit with numerous fees imposed on junior and senior high school-age students as they head back to school each fall.
So, how "free" is a free education?
For large families, it can cost a small fortune.
Look at the Parks. For basic fees and registration, Monica Park spent $145 to register 17-year-old Shanda, a drill team dancer, for senior-year classes at American Fork High School.
Monica Park doled out $130 for Amber, who at 15 is taken with both the violin and cheerleading. They opted not to get an activity card because of the added expense.
Junior high school is somewhat less expensive. Tiona, the 13-year-old trumpet player, was handed a $40 bill for class registration at American Fork Junior High School.
Costs don't end there, however. The Parks expect to spend $400 to $600 throughout the year for programs that require camps, uniforms and travel.
"But we understand that when we go to parent meetings," Park said, expressing a belief that extracurricular events add to a child's education.
Kristen Bartholomew doesn't dispute the value of an education - both in and out of the classroom. But she was somewhat taken aback at the $72 bottom line for her son's eighth-grade classes at Orem Junior High School.
Scott Bartholomew was charged a deposit, plus fees for a locker, a writing lab, a computer lab, towels in physical education class, a science lab and two shop classes. He also bought a yearbook and paid PTSA (Parent, Teacher, Student Association) fees.
Bartholomew, who estimates spending about $150 for back-to-school fashions on each child, said teachers at Orem Elementary School, where her three youngest attend, asked for donations to support field trips and activities.
"Fees can be a hardship," she said, adding one of her neighbors recently doled out $1,400 in activity fees for one active child in high school. "It is a major expense. It really caught me off guard this year.
"I think the people like me, who are in the middle, are the ones getting stuck," Bartholomew said. "I'm not poor enough to get a waiver, yet I'm not rich enough to handle the costs easily."
Linda Campbell, a 12-year member of the Alpine Board of Education, knows how costly high school registration can be. She recently spent $230 to sign up her 16-year-old daughter for classes.
After seeing one of the fee charges, her daughter queried, "Why am I paying a computer fee?" Campbell's daughter does not spend time at the school's lab. She uses a home computer.
But schools need money to upgrade and maintain the systems they have, Campbell said, even if it means charging those who don't use the facilities.
A recently approved $6.9 million leeway for technology in the district only makes a dent in maintaining computers without ongoing fees, she said.
Campbell is not quiet about her desire to see fees and hidden costs abolished from the public-school system. She describes herself as an advocate for activities, but a foe of fees for curriculum-related classes and programs.
"I am a strong advocate of doing away with fees," she said, shaking her head. "I think it needs to be statewide. It's a way of getting more money from our schools and parents, and we shouldn't be doing that."
Campbell, a former teacher, estimates that if each Utah property owner paid $10 extra monthly in taxes, the additional funds would enable schools to stop the practice of charging fees for libraries and labs. Her sister, a New York transplant, marvels at the Beehive State's comparatively low taxes dedicated to education compared to the Big Apple.
"With just $100 more a year in taxes," she said, "I'd bet all children could walk into schools and not have to pay a single fee."
Campbell also believes uniforms would solve some classroom behavioral problems and parental headaches when the credit-card statement arrives. A standardized dress code takes away the immediate separation of the "haves" and "have-nots," she said.
"Uniforms are the way to go, both from an economic and social view," she said.
Dressing a child for public schools isn't cheap - and the dent in the pocketbook may depend on if your adolescent daughter favors athletic Sporty Spice or voguish Posh Spice.
This year, parents will spend an average of $292 per child for school clothes and $68 on supplies, according to a Virginia-based mass retail association. Some teachers also require students to have a certain number of notebooks, pens, pencils and paper.
But clearly, some educators say, the cost of an education is priceless. As one popular bumper sticker declares: "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
Utah law demands a free education for children 5 to 18 years old. However, in 1986 Utah voters OK'd allowing schools to collect fees from students in grades 7-12, in an aim at bolstering school budgets without raising taxes.
The state doesn't ask schools to cap the total amount students are asked to pay.
Also, schools cannot deny participation in any class if a fee or deposit cannot be paid. Fees for books or school-sponsored activities, including uniforms and trips, may be waived for parents who can't afford them. Yearbooks are optional, but the fees cannot be waived. A 1992 court order requires school districts to alert parents to fee-waiver availability.
Melinda Rock, director of public information in the Jordan School District, said schools couldn't afford most of the non-core curriculum programs without additional funding. Those programs, though, can be just as important for learning, she said.
Plus, she said, many parents expect, and are willing to pay for, the best uniforms or equipment for their children.
"We have a lot of dialogue with parents about it," she said. "We're concerned for parents who have already paid taxes and now are asked for pay for fees. We realize it can be an inconvenience . . . but it is an important part of an education."
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Receipt
Student Date 8/18/98
Description Amount
Textbk - $35 fe textbook rental 35.00
Deposit refun deposit (refund 15.00
Locker rental locker fee 2.00
Library fee 2.00
Activity fees 30.00
English lab 15.00
Drama-partici drama 25.00
Dr. ed. fess driver's educat 35.00
Towels & lock 2.50
Science lab 10.00
Choir partici 25.00
Yearbook 35.00
Student total 231.50
*Numbers are from an actual receipt for a Utah County student