You Know I’m Right – The ‘It Costs Money To Go To School’ Edition

Earlier this morning, I reported on a news story from KFOX-TV about the Clint Independant School District charging a fee for students who want to transfer into the district.  One dad quoted in the story said he understands the fee, but thinks the district shouldn't have given parents an ultimatum to pay up or get out.

Actually, CISD didn't give an ultimatum, they just let parents know that for the upcoming fall semester, transfer students would have to come up with $100 dollars a month to attend a CISD school.  And they didn't do it two days before the semester, they let parents know about the fee in April, plenty of time for parents to make the decision to pay the fee or put their kids in schools in the district in which they live.

The problem with the free US education system is that it isn't free.  We pay property taxes to fund schools and we rely on state funding as well.  But because of the budget crisis that is affecting everyone, state money to schools will be cut by a projected 4 billion dollars, and if you're a homeowner, you know that property taxes are out of control.  So it's understandable that CISD would need to put a tuition fee into place.  School supplies, employee salaries, utilities - they all cost money, and that money shouldn't come from just the people in the district who pay property taxes.  It needs to come from people who are using the services.

I wonder if the people who are complaining about the new tuition fee would be ok if illegal immigrants had a problem with paying tuition even though they were using a system they didn't pay into?

You know I'm right.