I was just told by a friend, whose child went to boarding school a few years ago, that her public school district paid for her son’s books. Has anyone done this in the past? If yes, what were your experience?
Never even crossed my mind. But I imagine that textbook reimbursement may be possible depending on where you live.
I know that students in Pennsylvania (Bucks County) can get free bus transportation to/from their private day school. New Jersey will either offer free busing, or a check (~$400) to cover the costs of transport.
Look at your local school district’s policies. Ask if there is a “school choice” policy. While not really meant for boarding school students, some policies are so ambiguously/poorly written you can challenge them. (I know because I am currently cleaning up my district’s policies). It won’t amount to much but might be a small sum given to homeschoolers or private school students.
I have read this on here before. D20’s school includes them and I didn’t pursue this for D22 who is at a day school. Heck my taxes are pretty high in MA so I should!
It depends on local policies.
In NY, public school districts provide both a bus and textbooks to kids (within a pre-set driving distance) in religious schools, so I imagine that might also extend to boarding schools.
The above poster is correct about New York however it is not just to religious schools, it is to any private school.
One caveat to the above - Westchester county cities (think Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Yonkers, etc.) do not provide busing even within the pre-set driving distance the towns observe which tends to be 15 miles.
No comment on books as we have no pursued nor do we know anyone who has.
Thank you all for your answers. We do live in New York. I called the school district and the person in-charge of textbooks said that the school district does pay for textbooks. However, he has never dealt with a child who is enrolled in a out-of-state boarding school. He claims he will have their legal team look into it. I read the law and as posted above, it is very ambiguous. It only says “non-public school”. I will post an update.
Thanks so much for raising this issue. I have a call in to my school district and will update with the answer I receive. For what it’s worth, the administration directed my to the “child accountant.”
I am in Bucks County, PA (coincidental to sgopal2’s comment above about Bucks County). Our district would provide bus transportation to private schools if my son were going to a private day school. Fingers crossed that they’ll pay something toward books. Every bit helps.
The answer is: YES!!! If you live in New York State and your child is going to boarding school or ANY schooling other than public schools, your school district can/should pay for the student’s textbooks. Just get a form from the school district and have the new school fill out the paperwork with all the textbooks the students will need. Send the school district back the original and they will order the books and deliver them to the school!
This is amazing!!! Thank you all for even having this very helpful conversation. Does this apply to NYC?
Yes it does include NYC. New York State mandates that the current school district in which you live, must pay for textbooks for a child attending a non-public school, regardless of location. If your child is attending a private school this Fall, reach out to your school district as soon as possible because of deadlines. The law states that the district can set its own deadline as long as it is not before June 1.