$53 for a field trip?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes for trips downtown they charter a bus because the time window to use MCPS buses is too short to get there, have a decent field trip, and make it back on time. That adds a ton of cost.

This. I chaperoned a field trip to the Smithsonian and we used an MCPS bus. We spent maybe 45 minutes, certainly no more than an hour, in the museum, ate brownbag lunches outside, and returned to school. The trip was so short it felt like it was not worth the hassle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why MCPS sucks. We have a 3+ billion dollar budget and have access to acres of free world class museums for field trips, but, because of lack of investment in transportation infrastructure they have to charge families $53 to go to these museums. This means at MANY schools, field trips just aren't planned because some students can't afford (or parents don't want to prioritize it) to go and the cost is too high for it to be subsidized by those school's PTAs.

MCPS doesn't charge this, the teachers arrange it and the principals approve it. We didn't do many field trips in MCPS. You are also paying for teachers and chaperones costs as well.

For that much, I'd say I'll drive my kid and meet you there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Updating since I started this. The field trip includes the charter bus, lunch, a T-shirt and “admission to the museum” .

With all of those perks I think $53 is very reasonable. It was sticker shock when I received the invoice in my inbox!

This violates policy. But pay it anyway because you like getting ripped off.

Please link a citation.

I note with an easy web search a memo from a middle school this summer,

"There also may be fees related to field trips, but these will be shared each time there is a trip. Examples of possible fees include
band/chorus T-shirts, Music in the Parks Festival field trip fee, Outdoor Education field trip fee (Grade 6), and End-ofYear Activities fee (Grade 8). "

In general, I believe that MCPS allows schools to charge families for field trips, but they are expected to make these trips accessible to all students, that is to say that students should be excluded due to financial constraints and schools are encouraged to offer financial assistance or alternative funding sources for families in need.

Yes, which means they ask everyone else to pay extra to help defray costs for families that can't afford it. I kick in extra every time because I think everyone should go but it is so frustrating that school activities are so underfunded that it requires us to subsidize even the most basic activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In all seriousness how much is a charter bus for a day? Let’s assume 20 kids pay $50 each. That’s $1,000. 40 kids and that’s $2,000…. That seems to me like the bus companies are milking the school system.

Charters are charging over a thousand dollars just for a fuel surcharge. They are ridiculously expensive because they know they are the only option outside of the McPS bus window. Also, the list of approved charters in McPS is not very long