Only three states charge students for classroom textbooks. Indiana is one of them.
August 18, 2008 - A South Bend Tribune editorial, "State has duty to pay for school books," wants the state to pay for textbooks. They maintain that the "cost of textbooks most assuredly is part of the cost of public education and should be shared by all taxpayers." Indiana Code, enacted by the General Assembly, says that school systems may charge students to rent textbooks.
The cost can be very high.
Bremen Public Schools charges parents $87 for kindergarten books. Parents of fifth-graders pay $128. High school students’ families commonly are charged $150 or more. A family with several children can easily pay up to $500 just in book fees.Only in 2007 did the legislature decide to fully fund books for students who receive free and reduced-price meals.
According to the Tribune, Indiana is one of only three states that doesn't provide textbooks in public schools. This, despite a 2004 Indian Supreme Court decision that struck down a $20 activities fee, that said,
“It is absurd to suggest that public schools may not charge for the services of a teacher, but may charge students a fee for things as essential to teaching and instruction as the services of a teacher, such as school buildings, maintenance, heating and cooling, electricity, or textbooks.”----------------------
TT - They don't say what the other three states are.
