Lawsuit brings attention to students paying for public school

A suit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last September will likely make large changes in operation of many curricular and extra-curricular activities at Aragon next year. The suit has prompted a statewide policy that public school institutions cannot mandate fees for any class or extra-curricular activity.

The ACLU suit complicated summer reading assignments traditionally assigned in the English department. Contrary to popular speculation, the Aragon English department is in fact assigning summer reading. The lawsuit did not explicitly challenge summer reading assignments; rather the lawsuit brought attention to the flaws in the standing process of collecting fees or otherwise mandating spending from students.

In accordance with the new policy, students will not be required to purchase books. Students have the option of checking out summer reading books through the Aragon library, which has recently placed a large order for each of the assigned summer reading books. Books chosen for this summer’s assignments are books already in the curriculum of English classes, and are already in stock in the Aragon library. This allowed for the Library to only order enough additional copies to reach the amount of students who would need the books, rather than ordering a huge amount of new books.

While summer reading is no longer in jeopardy, the fate of many other programs at Aragon has fallen into question. Currently, however, policymakers in Sacramento have yet to define exactly what kinds of fees are acceptable and what kinds of fees are prohibited. “A lot of the debate is about what is actually core curriculum,” says assistant principal Joe Mahood.

For example, Mahood reports that Aragon will likely still be able to charge for parking due to the fact that the ability to drive to school is a privilege and not requirement. Art classes, which every student is required to take at least one year of, is core curriculum, and thus the law may fall more stringently on these classes.

In some cases, Aragon has chosen to provide students access to materials instead of requiring them to purchase such materials such as the summer reading decision. The math department has also received a large grant to buy calculators which can be checked out at the library.

In the case of the Physical Education department, a new policy will be implemented next year. “We are still selling the Aragon clothes, which will be a better material and will be cheaper than the costs at the store,” says teacher Ed Larios, “but students will not be required to buy the Aragon wear. [The P.E. department] will still be requiring a red shirt and black shorts.” Considering that clothes are considered more of a general item as opposed to specific works of literature or calculators, the P.E. department might be allowed such a mandate.

The groups which may be hit hardest at Aragon are the elective programs. The Ceramics, Art, Photography, and Nutrition classes, each of which charge a fee for materials, will likely be unable to mandate such charges next year.

In the case that these classes cannot charge fees, Ceramics teacher Barbara Hughes says, “We will have to ask for donations. And in the case we don’t get the donations, we just can’t have one project a week [for ceramics classes].”

While the individual $50 fee for ceramics may seem small to some students, the impact of the policy will have much larger consequences. With approximately, 160 students in Art, 160 students in Ceramics, 130 students in Home Economics Classes, and 150 students in Photography classes, small material charges add up. Considering that the fees charged this year ranged from $20 to $50, if these classes are unable to charge fees for materials next year, they will face a budget difference ranging from $12,000 to $30,000.

This policy may greatly change the composition of Aragon classes in the future. Junior Andrew Lin says, “[While] the serious students would probably make donations, the less advanced classes with less serious students would suffer.” Considering that a full year of a fine art is required to graduate at Aragon, many students end up choosing a visual art, as opposed to a performing art, to fill requirements. These students, Lin says, may not want to be monetarily invested in such classes.

Still, junior Kaitlin Choy, who takes photography, argues that “[She] uses her own equipment mainly.” While she admits that some students may use the school’s equipment, she says, “Not having to pay a fee would be nice.”

Unfortunately, in the case that art classes don’t get the necessary funding, Hughes says “We will have ‘Art in the Dark’. We will have to shift the course material towards art history instead of hands on projects.” While Hughes says she does not want to move in that direction, it may be the directions the classes will take with less funding. Food and Nutrition teacher Susan Hontalas says “It’s would be like going through chemistry without ever doing labs or taking biology without ever dissecting anything.”

Junior Dillon Waugh says, “There is little point to having an art elective if it’s going to be about Art History. [Art class] is about exploring and honing what you love to do.” Indeed, Waugh’s statement is a common sentiment among many students who may suffer due to the budget issues.

The bottom line is that this is yet another issue related to the education budget problems facing our state. While the ACLU’s stated goal with the recent suit is to highlight “the need for advocacy to ensure [the state of California’s] public schools receive from the state the resources necessary to achieve the democratic ideal of helping all children,” the reality of the matter is that California schools, including Aragon, are facing but more budget cuts next year.

Aragon’s Fair Share Program, which helps fund many programs at Aragon will certainly have a tough time raising the funds to combat the new deficits at Aragon, but could alleviate the impact to the art program.

Community supporter of the Aragon Fair Share committee Sharman Blood says “[the distribution of Fair Share funds] changes every year depending on the need, but Fair Share’s goals have always been to help students by making sure that the district-wide budget cuts don’t reduce their choices, particularly for electives.”

Currently, it is still not clear exactly what academic and extracurricular programs will be subject to the new restrictions. However, as it is looking right now, there will be many policy changes at Aragon next year.