ANOTHER VIEWPOINT: Indiana needs to fix its book fees policy

<p>It might sound a bit like something out of a Dickensian novel: In the midst of a pandemic, with people losing their jobs and families struggling to cope, a school district continues suing parents for unpaid textbook fees.</p><p>But this isn’t fiction. In July, School City of Mishawaka filed 202 lawsuits against parents, with 80 more in August. All told, court records show the district has filed 294 cases since late March, which represents about 5% of its enrollment of about 5,300 students in the 2019-20 school year.</p><p>That’s in contrast to several Indiana school districts, including Penn-Harris-Madison, that have backed off from such lawsuits. The South Bend Community School Corp., which filed lawsuits against nearly 800 families in 2019 and more than 1,000 in 2018, filed none this year.</p><p>As detailed in a Tribune report co-published with ProPublica, the Mishawaka lawsuits came as pandemic relief measures, including expanded unemployment benefits, began to expire around the country. According to School City of Mishawaka officials, the district decided to file the suits because the fees dated to the fall of 2019 and were originally due in November of last year, before the pandemic.</p><p>The reasoning may have made sense, but the timing was terrible, as the pandemic was surging again by the summer.</p><p>Alex Newman, chief financial officer of School City of Mishawaka, noted that collecting unpaid fees is a necessity to keep the district’s textbook fund in the black and ensure it doesn’t have to compensate by using money earmarked for other priorities. And he says there’s an obligation to the parents who do pay their fees to collect from those who don’t but appear to have the means to do so.</p><p>And that points to another larger issue, one that goes beyond the decision whether to legally pursue parents during a public health crisis: Indiana’s dubious distinction as one of a handful of states that allows parents to be charged for books and other curricular fees. The state reimburses districts for textbook rental and materials fees only for those who qualify for free or reduced-priced meals. Otherwise, parents must pay.</p><p>Over the years, attempts to pass legislation to provide funding for textbooks for all have failed.</p><p>Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, chairman of the House Education Committee for the past six years, said textbooks for all would cost $70 million a year, and that teacher pay is a bigger issue.</p><p>But Indiana should find a way to make both investments in education. It should join the majority of states that provides funding for textbooks. The state should do so to shift the burden from families — and to stop forcing school districts to act as bill collectors.</p><p><em>Send comments to <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>.</em></p>