Schools can’t charge (Continued from Page Al) offer such a program is Western Montgomery., So, FRESH FRUITS IN BULK FOR HOME CANNING NEW JERSEY BLUEBERRIES CALIF. APRICOTS NORTHWESTERN BING CHERRIES Please phone ahead for latest fruit into or listen to WDAC FM 94 5 at 6 15 P M Mon , Wed & Fn when we sponsor the weather broadcast Please Bring Containers W. L. ZIMMERMAN & SONS mmm intercourse, PA the boys go to Western Montgomery. But Western Montgomery, Souderton officials said, charges more per student for tuition than what Souderton charges, and Souderton refused to pay the dif ference. Souderton said the boys’ parents must pick up the difference. But neither Robert Freed, Sr. nor Robert G. Shisler, parents of the boys, thought that was quite right. Freed, who runs a Holstein herd; and Shisler, who runs the local Agway store, both got bills for $6OO to $7OO a year in “excess tuition.” “The basic question is whether the Souderton solicitor is interpreting the law the right way,” Freed said before the hearing. “It’s crazy. They are busing kids to other schools and forcing the districts to pay. Here our boys have no other place to go yet we have to pay,” he said. Actually, Freed has sent two sons to Western Mon tgomery. The older son, Robert Jr., was not charged for the excess tuition. But the Freeds had to provide his -i an&portation iu vv U3U,lu Montgomery. When second son Ralph started Western Mon tgomery two years ago, the Souderton district asked for $6OO excess tuition which the Freeds paid. This year the charge was jumped to nearly $7OO and the Freeds balked. The Freeds also provide Ralph’s transportation both ways to school. Freed said Souderton told him they would pay only a certain amount for the education of any student and the difference for Ralph’s education would have to be picked up by the family. The Sfaisler boy, Robert Freed Sr.’s nephew, also was told to pay the excess tuition. Robert Shisler is in his first yearofvo-ag. Late last fall, Freed questioned the propriety of the charge. At that time he contacted the State Grange for help. The Grange took the matter to the Souderton Schools and later to the Department of Education. A June 23 meeting of the Souderton Schoolboard was no help to either the Freeds or Shislers. The District restated it would be responsible only for normal high school charges. The District refused to accept charges for the boys from Western AVTS. R.D. #2. Ouarryville. PA 17566 717-786-2146 ALSO AVAILABLE m Gates • Free Stalls • Hay Bank ;e Banks • Stock Tilt Tables • Bio s • Portable Loading Chutes • Sqi s • Head Gates • Custom Steel P locking Head Locks SEND FOR FREE CATALOG There was no question from either district that the boys have the right to go to the vo-ag school. The only exception to the excess charges rule, Freed said he was told, was for students who are classified “exceptional.” The school district, he said, must pick up all charges for ex ceptional education. The resolution of the problem was forthcoming from the existing code which clearly states if a school does not offer vo-ag and the parents want to send then child to a school with a program, the school district has the responsibility to pay, not the parents. The Act says any student can apply for acceptance in any other school district. “The school district in which the person resides who has been admitted as above provided...shall pay the high school charge provided by this Act...” Part C reads. What Section 1809 does not cover is possible repayment of the tuition already paid by parents. The Public School Code does say that, should a district neglect or refuse to pay tuition owed to another district, it will be liable to action for violation of con tract. But in this case Souderton paid the other district—by billing the parents. The total billing for the two FREY MANUF SPECIAL PRIG ta\\W ROUND BALE FEEDE ★ JUNE 27th To AUGUST 1 ★ on our Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 5,1980—A47 families comes to nearly $2OOO. The Education Department has done what it could to assure the parents no longer will have to pay for vocational education. the money Whether Lehigh Qairy Princess with a glass of milk Heyer dairy '"'WW already paid is returned is a question which will have to be solved by the parents involved and the Souderton District. The families are preparing to request the refund they feel is due them.—CH crowned princess ALLENTOWN - Lois Heyer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Heyer of R 2 Kutztown, was recently named Dairy Princess for Lehigh and Northampton counties. The l&-year old graduate of Northwestern Lehigh High School and Lehigh County Vo-Tech received her crown from retiring prin cess Martha Guest at a luncheon in Allentown. Lois served as alternate dairy princess last year. The new princess is a full time employee on her parent’s 170 acre farm. One of her responsibilities is milking the family herd of 48 cows. In her presentation. “Mr. Mad Scientist,” Lois told of a scientist who tried to make a chemical milk equal to natural milk. When he failed, he turned into a dairy princess and spent his life * promoting milk.