In a word, those fees are illegal
In 1968, the Minidoka School District decided students should have to pay for school textbooks, transcripts, and other education related services.
The Paulson family knew that the Idaho Constitution required a FREE education and provided the district with a civics lesson by pointing that out, explaining that Article IX of the Idaho Constitution stated:
Section 1. LEGISLATURE TO ESTABLISH SYSTEM OF FREE SCHOOLS. The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature of Idaho, to establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.
Didn't matter. The Minidoka District went ahead with its "school fees" policy.
The Paulson sued.
The Idaho Supreme Court ruled, in 1971, in Paulson v Minidoka County Schools, that the District was wrong, stating
"Textbooks are necessary elements of any school's activity. They represent a fixed expense peculiar to education, the benefits from which inure to every student in equal proportion. School books are, thus, indistinguishable from other fixed educational expense items such as school building maintenance or teachers' salaries. The appellants may not charge students for such items because the common schools are to be 'free' as our constitution requires."
The Paulson ruling struck down school fees for any "necessary elements of any school's activity". At the time, I was an administrator in the Coeur d' Alene School District and I remember that the Board quickly ended its 'fee policy.'
Fast forward to 2012. School districts are once again charging fees, despite the Paulson ruling. Only now districts are charging fees for just about everything. Want to register your child in school? Gotta pay a Registration Fee. Want your child to take a class? Gotta pay a course fee. Want your kid to play in the band? Gotta pay a participation fee? Play football? Pay a fee? Ad nauseam.
I got tired of paying those fees and asked the Meridian (as it was called then) District to stop. They ignored me. So I filed a lawsuit, Joki v State of Idaho, in which I alleged the State Legislature had failed its DUTY to provide a free education and local districts were violating the Idaho Consitution by charging fees.
The Meridian District refused mediation. We've been in court for two years. Finally, a merit's trial is being scheduled for sometime in this fall.
It's a sign of incompetence that the Meridian School District superintendent and school board had never read the Idaho Constitution nor heard of the Paulson ruling.
If I am elected to the school board, I will try to convince the majority of the board that 'free' has a very simple meaning.
