"It is the public policy of this state that public education shall be free."

A noble proclamation - if it weren't so laughable.

"We have to come to the realization that public education is not free in any way, shape or form," says Annette Webb, 43, a Salt Lake City mother with two sons at East High School.

Webb and her husband will fork over about $400 in fees this year so their sons can take classes, borrow textbooks, use labs and play sports.

That's on top of the property and income taxes the couple - along with all Utah residents and businesses - pay toward public education.

While many parents say they understand the financial straits schools are in - especially in Utah with its large families and low per-pupil expenditures - the August ritual of writing checks for everything from dances to drama to driver education baffles and infuriates them.

School districts do provide fee waivers for low-income families. And they set limits on how much parents must pay if a student plays more than one sport or more than one child participates in extracurricular activities.

Still, what districts term "basic fees" can be sizable. Just to attend high school, each student must pay $60 in Granite District, $69 in Jordan, $72.50 in Davis and $84 in Alpine.

"Why do I have to pay fees when I already pay taxes?" Lehi's Cindy Graves asks. "Those taxes should already cover the fees."

If only that were possible, respond legislators and educators.

"The basic money we get [from taxes] is not enough," says Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay.

Districts define many fees as "optional." But try telling a teenager to go without a yearbook, which can cost upward of $50.

Part of the reason schools need the fees, explains Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, is Utah's "unique demographics."

Utah has the nation's lowest per-pupil spending - $4,692 in 2002, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The next closest: Mississippi at $5,356.

And Utah has plenty of pupils to pay for - 494,000 in kindergarten through 12th grade. The number is expected to swell by 32 percent in 10 years, to 651,000.

Utahns also shoulder the eighth-highest state tax burden - at $99.50 for every $1,000 of personal income, according to the Utah Foundation. The load lightens when federal and local taxes are weighed in, making Utah the 28th highest taxed state.

The Beehive State can afford to provide a "free" education through sixth grade, says Spackman Moss, but not for secondary students.

"Drama, debate, sports - all those things - that's not part of the basic cost," she says.

A former high school English teacher, Spackman Moss says parents frequently gripe about student activity fees, which can top $30.

That's why the Utah Constitution contains this proviso: "Public elementary and secondary schools shall be free, except the Legislature may authorize the imposition of fees in the secondary schools."

Such fees are not necessarily a bad thing, says Stephenson, president of the business-backed Utah Taxpayers Association.

"The more parents participate in out-of-pocket expenses, the more they're going to be involved in their schools," he says. "Even fees up to $150 [per student] is absolutely appropriate. It has a positive effect. A modest fee is an appropriate tool to help pay the cost of public education."

Low-income families can avoid the fees, but even they "want some accountability," says Lehi's Lorrie Crandall, 42, whose family's financial circumstances spurred her to apply for a fee waiver. The Brigham Young University graduate student has two daughters in high school.

"It's exorbitant," Crandall says. "It seems like they're paying a fee every time they walk into class. They even have a $35 fee for band on top of a fee for [renting] an instrument. And that's on top of fund-raising."

A portion of what districts charge comprises a "user" or "rental" fee for textbooks. Utah is one of only nine states in the nation that charge a nonrefundable fee for textbooks, according to a nationwide survey of state statutes.

Some districts - including Alpine - require a nonrefundable fee of $35 for textbooks.

That's too much for Lehi resident Wendy Shoop, who has sons in the ninth and 12th grades.

"I don't know why I'm paying for textbooks that the school and Legislature already paid for," she says. Alpine district officials "are basically having parents pay for textbooks that have already been bought. The Legislature has mandated that they buy books. They have given them money. So what are they using the money for?"

Parents frequently pepper Utah lawmakers and school board members with that question.

The simple answer: Schools tap tax money - more than $2 billion - for as much as possible, then turn to fees to plug the holes.

"It's hard to make the dollars stretch far enough to cover textbooks, sports, extracurricular activities, musical instruments, security, building costs and upkeep," says Peggy Jo Kennett, president of the Jordan School Board, the state's largest district with 76,000 students.

Which is why, Kennett adds, she has no problem charging fees as a school board member or paying them as a parent.

Kennett's fees this year for her 10th-grade son will be the $68 basic fee required for all Jordan students, plus at least $143 for "optional" activities: $43 for a yearbook, $40 to rent an instrument and $60 to play soccer.

"I have no qualms at all about people who are participating in those kinds of things having to pay fees," she says. "That only seems fair."

Not to Webb, the Salt Lake City mother.

"I don't like paying the extra fees - especially for sports," she says.

I realize that not every student is participating, so not every student should pay for it. But at some point, you're almost penalized for participating."

The fees could shrink if Utah eliminated tax breaks for larger families, some legislators say. Rep. Steve Mascaro, R-West Jordan, and Rep. Pat Jones, D-Holladay, have been pushing a bill that would, in part, do just that while boosting education funding by $80 million a year.

While Utah funnels all of its income tax revenue to public education, its property taxes yield scant revenue relative to other states, argues Sam Jarman, high school administrator for Alpine School District.

The average per capita property tax tab in the 2000 census was $883. Utah's was $581.

It has been that way for decades. Consequently, Jarman pays fees for his children, and his parents paid fees when he was in high school. "People in Utah are used to paying fees and taking care of education that way," he says.

But Shoop isn't used to it - nor does she like it.

High school costs too much because education system [officials] do not manage their resources as well as they could."

mcronin@sltrib.com

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Tribune researcher Becky Hodges contributed to this report.