Post by gatormom on Jan 30, 2009 14:12:03 GMT -5
Atheist sues over District 214 driver's education fee
By Sheila Ahern
1/30/2009
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=268171
Pat Quinn was both sworn into office and named in a lawsuit on Thursday.
Atheist activist Rob Sherman filed a lawsuit on behalf of his daughter to protest Northwest Suburban High School District 214's driver education fee of $350. The fee overcharges students because a good portion of the $350 pays for teacher salaries and benefits, Sherman said.
"For me, it's not about the money; I'm a multimillionaire," said Sherman, who filed his lawsuit Thursday. "There are a lot of students who haven't taken driver's education because they can't afford the $350. It's our job as taxpayers to fund teachers salaries and benefits, not kids who are trying to learn to drive."
A request for an injunction to stop District 214 from charging the $350 will be heard in Circuit Judge Peter Flynn's courtroom at 11 a.m. Feb 3 at the Daley Center in Chicago.
Dawn Sherman is a Buffalo Grove High School sophomore. She's enrolled in the school's driver education program, although she can't participate in the behind-the-wheel portion of the class because she hasn't paid the $350.
"She's riding in the car, sitting in the back seat," Sherman said. "The teachers are being very accommodating."
According to the lawsuit, Sherman discussed the fees with John Hillary, District 214's special program administrator, in December 2008.
At the meeting, Hillary told Sherman about $150 of the $350 fee covers expenses such as the cost of the cars, maintenance, gas and insurance. Hillary said the remaining $200 pays for teacher salaries and benefits, according to the lawsuit.
"That's not fair; it's unconstitutional," Sherman said.
District 214 spokesman Venetia Miles declined to comment on the lawsuit because the district's lawyers hadn't seen a copy on Thursday.
She did, however, provide some information on the district's driver education program.
District 214 students are charged $350 for the behind-the-wheel class, while the driver education classroom instruction is free. About 600 students sign up each year for the program, bringing the district about $130,000 annually, Miles said.
"The fees don't even cover the money spent on driver's ed in this district," Miles said. "They only partially offset the expenditures."
Driver education costs about $1,300 per student, she said. District 214 covers what the $350 fee doesn't.
The fee is waived for about 37 percent of the students because they also receive free and reduced price lunches, Miles said.
The district has raised the program's fees significantly since 1996, when the district charged $50. After getting permission from the state's General Assembly, the district raised the fee each year so that in 2001, the district charged $250. In 2002, the district raised the fee again to $350. The $350 fee will be in effect until the 2011-12 school year.
Maine Township High School 207 charges $112.50 for driver education during the year and $125 in the summer. Barrington Unit District 220 and Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 charge $350. Most private schools, such as St. Viator High School, don't offer driver education.
Last year, the Shermans sued Northwest Suburban School District 214, charging the "moment of silence" law was unconstitutional. A federal judge agreed and directed schools to stop enforcing the state law in May.
• Daily Herald staff writers Ashok Selvam, Eric Peterson and Madhu Krishnamurthy contributed to this report.
By Sheila Ahern
1/30/2009
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=268171
Pat Quinn was both sworn into office and named in a lawsuit on Thursday.
Atheist activist Rob Sherman filed a lawsuit on behalf of his daughter to protest Northwest Suburban High School District 214's driver education fee of $350. The fee overcharges students because a good portion of the $350 pays for teacher salaries and benefits, Sherman said.
"For me, it's not about the money; I'm a multimillionaire," said Sherman, who filed his lawsuit Thursday. "There are a lot of students who haven't taken driver's education because they can't afford the $350. It's our job as taxpayers to fund teachers salaries and benefits, not kids who are trying to learn to drive."
A request for an injunction to stop District 214 from charging the $350 will be heard in Circuit Judge Peter Flynn's courtroom at 11 a.m. Feb 3 at the Daley Center in Chicago.
Dawn Sherman is a Buffalo Grove High School sophomore. She's enrolled in the school's driver education program, although she can't participate in the behind-the-wheel portion of the class because she hasn't paid the $350.
"She's riding in the car, sitting in the back seat," Sherman said. "The teachers are being very accommodating."
According to the lawsuit, Sherman discussed the fees with John Hillary, District 214's special program administrator, in December 2008.
At the meeting, Hillary told Sherman about $150 of the $350 fee covers expenses such as the cost of the cars, maintenance, gas and insurance. Hillary said the remaining $200 pays for teacher salaries and benefits, according to the lawsuit.
"That's not fair; it's unconstitutional," Sherman said.
District 214 spokesman Venetia Miles declined to comment on the lawsuit because the district's lawyers hadn't seen a copy on Thursday.
She did, however, provide some information on the district's driver education program.
District 214 students are charged $350 for the behind-the-wheel class, while the driver education classroom instruction is free. About 600 students sign up each year for the program, bringing the district about $130,000 annually, Miles said.
"The fees don't even cover the money spent on driver's ed in this district," Miles said. "They only partially offset the expenditures."
Driver education costs about $1,300 per student, she said. District 214 covers what the $350 fee doesn't.
The fee is waived for about 37 percent of the students because they also receive free and reduced price lunches, Miles said.
The district has raised the program's fees significantly since 1996, when the district charged $50. After getting permission from the state's General Assembly, the district raised the fee each year so that in 2001, the district charged $250. In 2002, the district raised the fee again to $350. The $350 fee will be in effect until the 2011-12 school year.
Maine Township High School 207 charges $112.50 for driver education during the year and $125 in the summer. Barrington Unit District 220 and Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 charge $350. Most private schools, such as St. Viator High School, don't offer driver education.
Last year, the Shermans sued Northwest Suburban School District 214, charging the "moment of silence" law was unconstitutional. A federal judge agreed and directed schools to stop enforcing the state law in May.
• Daily Herald staff writers Ashok Selvam, Eric Peterson and Madhu Krishnamurthy contributed to this report.
