School boards across Ontario will be able to go after individual schools that charge students unauthorized fees under new guidelines to be released Friday.

“It bothers me that fees would be charged to students for programs that are a requirement in order for them to graduate,” Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky told reporters, adding that, under the new guidelines, boards will be required to “deal with” schools charging fees unauthorized fees.

Her comments come in response to a new report by People for Education that finds almost 70 per cent of Ontario high schools charge students fees for courses — fees that aren’t allowed under the Education Act.

“Despite this prohibition, there appear to be many grey areas,” says the report released Thursday morning by the research and advocacy group.

“In some schools, students must pay a student activity fee in order to receive their class timetables; others charge fees for French workbooks and science lab materials.”

The report, released Thursday, comes a day before the province is to issue guidelines on student fees.

Dombrowsky said she also wants parents to become familiar with the new guidelines and notify the ministry is they find any fees that are “inappropriate and inconsistent” with them.

These days, high schools charge students fees for art classes, physical education, music, sciences, math, English, history and geography.

On top of that, students are also pay activity or registration fees, which can be more than $100.

Just recently Chaminade College School, in the Toronto Catholic school board, sent a letter to families saying students had to pay $110 by Feb. 25. “No course option sheet will be collected without the registration fee,” said the letter.

A board spokesperson said the school would not deny students courses if the fee was not paid, but included it in the letter as an “incentive” to get students to hand them in on time. The spokesperson said any student who has difficulty paying such a fee would receive financial help.

People for Education, in its survey of school fees, found that in the 2010-11 school year, students even paid fees for required courses.

“Six per cent of schools report charging fees for English classes, which are mandatory in every grade,” the report notes.

Annie Kidder of People for Education said she is looking to the province to provide clarity on exactly what is allowed. But she doesn’t think the guidelines will be all that strong.

“If the province said ‘you can’t charge fees,’ what would schools do? It’s a large amount of money,” said Kidder.

At a news conference Thursday releasing the report, Zane Schwartz, student trustee with the Toronto District School Board, said students typically pay a “photocopying fee” in English classes, of $10 or less.

“It’s not painful, alone,” he said. But with all of the other fees imposed on students, some are paying up to $200 for their courses.

Schools raise anywhere from less than $1,000 a year to more than $90,000 in course fees alone, the report says.

High school students also pay anywhere from $5 to $100 a year in student activity fees, with an average of $38.40. Athletic fees for after-school sports range from $10 to $1,800.

A recent Toronto Star series on school-generated funds — which include student and athletic fees — found a huge discrepancy between the amounts schools bring in, raising questions of equity.

Toronto’s public school board passed a rule last fall saying that all high schools must issue receipts to parents for student activity fees, and provide details of how the money will be spent.

Schwartz said even though the rules don’t take effect until this fall, the school he attends — Leaside High — provided students with detailed receipts for their $50 fee.

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Trustee John Del Grande of the Toronto Catholic board says he’d like his board to create its own, enforceable rules, above and beyond provincial guidelines.

On Friday, the province is also expected to release draft guidelines on parent fundraising before seeking public input.

School-generated funds by board, per student

1. Halton Public$409

2. York Catholic$382

3. Halton Catholic$335

4. York Public$298

5. Dufferin Peel Catholic$296

6. Durham Catholic$283

7. Peel Public$246

8. Toronto Catholic$245

9. Toronto Public$168

Source: Toronto Star research. Durham Public did not release numbers