Indiana legislatures plan on lowering the price of school. But at what cost?

Indiana high schools anticipate updates on Governor Holcomb’s plan to eliminate course fees

How the bill could be positive:

• Students’ bills per year of school will be significantly reduced.

You, as an MHS student, pay approximately $313 a year in course fees. Considering the 1,580 students enrolled in the 2022-2023 school year, that’s nearly $500,000 covering anything from laptops and textbooks to the clay used in ceramics. Planned to go into effect June 30—if passed—several House and Senate Bills will require Indiana public schools to eliminate curricular fees. This means that almost half a million dollars will no longer be paid by parents for students to attend school.

At the moment, the administration is waiting for the state to define what fees they will eliminate before making a plan for Munster schools. With experience from a similar bill passing in Idaho at his old district, Mr. Bret Heller, superintendent, predicts this will be a gradual process that will likely start with technology, like laptops, and textbooks.

When students are charged for the classes they take, it is typically split up into two different types of fees—consumable and curricular fees. For example, science teacher Mrs. Dawn Vidt’s AP Chemistry class costs $40, which consists of consumables, such as goggles and chemicals used in labs, and a curricular fee for the textbook. In addition to the upcoming lab remodel this summer and pre-AP curriculum changes, the science department worries about next year.

“It’s stressful because we don’t want to be in a situation where we’ve adopted something that doesn’t work out and we’re stuck with it for the next four to six years,” Mrs. Vidt said. “Can we purchase a textbook that is really well supported with videos and simulations if we can’t get chemicals? You try to be ahead of it, but sometimes the politics involved make it nearly impossible for us to do our job.”

• Students who struggle with these fees will be able to take more immersive classes without worrying about the cost.

• “Based on the dollar figures they’ve thrown around so far of what they would give per student, we would end up having to figure out a way to fund the laptops ourselves,” Mr. Heller said. “That would have to come out of our budget somewhere, but we’ll do it. Our goal will be to not impact kids’ programs and not make teachers’ lives harder, which is easier said than done.”

How the bill could be negative:

• With curricular changes, teachers may experience an increase in stress when it comes to class structure.

• “The state rewrote the Chemistry curriculum a year ago,” Mrs. Vidt said. “We’ve done a lot of work to rewrite and restructure assessments, learning activities and hands-on stuff for it. But we just got another number that says it will probably be further changed.”

• Various hands-on activities within the curriculum will be eliminated to lower costs.

• “If we were charging ‘x’ and now we receive ‘y,’ and y is less than x, the schools are going to have to eat that cost,” Mr. William Melby, director of financial operations, said. “For ceramics, maybe you did five projects before, but now you can only do three because that’s how much we can afford with the money given from the state.”

• “To run a ceramics class, or any art class, the course is totally dependent on the fees students pay,” Mr. Carl Fields, ceramics teacher, said. “Without it, my class will cease to exist.”

At A Glance

see highlights from today’s issue

Mrs. Cleary has two sons with autism, but she had pushed for her younger son Nathan to get the opportunity to swim in the way her older son had not been able to.

“Is that really access to the same programs other people are entitled to?”

Robotics competes at Penn District March 3-5

The stadium is loud, thousands of people walking around the robots. Abhiram Kandregula, senior, says it is a mix of emotions, but nervousness is not one of them. While you never know what to expect, the team feels confident.

Robotics competes at Penn District in Mishawaka March 3-5, as well as their state competition April 6-8. Competitions con-

Principal Morgan Nolan to have proposed 20232024 schedule following spring break

65.3% of students are for block scheduling of students are against block scheduling

21.6%

13.6% of students did not have a preference

Last issue of Crier, we asked students to report their preferences on block scheduling. We sent out the survey again due to a lack of responses, and found that 92 students are for block scheduling whereas 283 are against. 59 students of students had no preference. The survey of 453 students was open from Jan. 27Feb.17.

Mr. Morgan Nolan, principal, states that discussions about the schedule next year are still ongoing, but that they will have a general idea of a schedule following spring break. Several schools near our districts, Mr. Nolan reported, have some form of hybrid scheduling; the schedule for next year may not be a strict block schedule, but some form of hybrid.

“I’m not in favor of it,” Karol Ceja, freshman, said. “I find it hard to focus in class sometimes already, and them being twice the length is only going to make that harder.” sist of two districts competitions, regionals, state and then a world competition. Last year, Robotics took runner-up at State, an accomplishment they hope to surpass this year. They are currently working to secure funding from the Lake County Chamber of Commerce.

Veer Jhaveri, junior, the driver, is responsible for ensuring the robot is able to navigate, pick up a series of objects, and put them in the right place. Although it may sound simple, it does take practice to guide the robot correctly.

“It’s definitely a high-energy environment that you’re in,” Veer said. “And there’s a bit of pressure on you to be able to succeed.”

One of the main considerations for robotics on a yearly basis is fundraising. This year, they’ve partnered with a number of coffee shops in the area, and are placing their logos on bags to sell for a premium that goes back to the team.

“Hopefully people will see we’re not a rookie team anymore,” Abhiram said. “We’re a veteran team willing to host competitions and bring people to our school.”