Indiana Court Strikes Down Mandatory Fees

The Indiana Supreme Court has struck down a school district’s $20 school activity fee as a violation of the state constitution because, the court said, it is equivalent to a tuition charge.

The 22,100-student Evansville-Vanderburgh school district imposed the fee on all K-12 students in the 2002-03 school year. The money was used to pay for nurses, school counselors, alternative education, and activities such as music, athletics, and drama, among other purposes. According to court papers, the fee was part of an attempt to balance the district’s budget, which had a $2.3 million deficit in 2002.

Some parents of students in the district, including some whose children qualify for federally subsidized school lunches, filed...