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Curriculum and Computer Deposit - PROPOSAL

Curriculum and Computer Deposit Proposal

This proposal does not include grade 10 - 12 students or any resources purchased using IE funding

HCOS has received a fair bit of feedback from families on the curriculum and computer buyout process. The central themes of concern have been:

  1. Not knowing how much it will cost when they leave or graduate from HCOS

  2. Not knowing what needs to be returned 

  3. Not expecting to have to pay for the items or return items; feeling financially stressed by the unexpected bill or stressed at not knowing what items to return

We have been looking at this process to see how we could improve the experience for families while fully adhering to the Ministry of Education and Child Care’s guidelines and mandate surrounding HCOS' responsibility to have a process in place for the return or buyout of any purchase made using Ministry funding. The Ministry clearly states that ALL items purchased using funding belong to the school and MUST be returned or bought by the family.

To that end, HCOS has chosen to close the current Curriculum and Computer Buyout process and move to a nominal curriculum and computer deposit. 

What does the new curriculum deposit process look like

  1. Each student will be required to pay a nominal curriculum deposit of $20 each year when they enroll or re-enroll (Note: This cannot be paid using curriculum funds in Encom)

  2. Families can receive this deposit back by returning the curriculum purchased

  3. If a family spends 100% of their funding on lessons and activities, they can request their deposit back as soon as funding is exhausted and their Additional Resource page in Encom clearly shows that no curriculum was purchased

How does this benefit families

  1. Families will always know and be able to plan how much the curriculum buyout will be. The $20 deposit will cover the buyout fee required by the Ministry of Education if they wish to keep the items

  2. Families will not receive a bill if they decide to leave HCOS. Instead, they will receive their deposit back if they return the items, or the deposit will cover the buyout fee if they decide to keep the items

  3. Families will no longer be required to make separate orders for each student. As we will no longer be calculating buyouts when a student leaves, we will no longer need to keep track of curriculum purchases per student. 

  4. Families will no longer need to keep track over multiple years of which items were purchased using school funding and which were purchased using family funds

  5. All purchases will be considered “Curriculum” or “Lessons and Activities”. Families will no longer need to keep track of “Consumable Curriculum” and “Non-Consumable Curriculum” when returning items (as they should be doing under the current buyout process). 

  1.  Families will be required to pay the computer deposit before receiving the computer
    1. the amount will remain at the buyout amount 
      1. $100 for items that exceed $1,000 in value at the point of purchase
      2. $50 for items that do not exceed $1000 in value at the poin tof purchase

  2. At the end of the lease, families can return the computer to receive their deposit back or keep the computer, and the deposit will cover the buyout fee required by the Ministry of Education and Child Care

    1. If a family leaves prio to the lease being fulfilled, they will need to payout the remaining amount on their lease if they would like to keep the computer/iPad. However, if the want to return it, they will receive their deposit back once it is returned
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