Occasionally, we report that some bureaucrat or politician is touting the benefits of a “free public college education“.

In The Wall Street Journal, Lindsay Gelmman describes true meaning of free public education.

The kids are back in school. And you’ve probably shelled out for pencil cases, notebooks, a new backpack—and AP French.

“Free public education” clauses are written into state constitutions nationwide. Yet at many public schools around the country it has become anything but. Schools are charging parents for programs and items that have traditionally come standard—including fees for course supplies, school-run extracurricular activities, transportation and even basic registration fees.

School districts have seen their budgets slashed over the past few years as states cut back funding amid the economic downturn. And this year is no exception, even as the economy continues to slowly improve. Thanks to the federal budget sequester earlier this year, schools nationwide have had to adjust to additional budget cuts of 5%, says Dan Domenech, executive director of the AASA, the School Superintendents Association, a nonprofit public-education advocacy group based in Alexandria, Va.

Schools are “starting to cut it to the bone,” and students risk losing arts education among other key curriculum areas, says Mr. Polot, whose son, Elliot, 17, would have had to pay the seventh-class fee.

Liz Margolis, a spokeswoman for Ann Arbor Public Schools, says, “We’re facing huge budget cuts—$60 million over the past five years. It’s become a financial burden for us to offer a seventh class.”

Some of the new fees are mandatory for all enrolled students. Julie Fain says she pays $65 a year per for each of her two children, ages 10 and 6, to attend A.N. Pritzker Elementary in Chicago. Ms. Fain says that while these mandatory fees aren’t high enough to impose a hardship on many families in her district, they are problematic “on principle.”

Parents aren’t happy about having to cover some of the tab. And some are even fighting back.

When the Ann Arbor (Mich.) Public Schools district announced that it would require high-school students to pay a $100 fee to take a seventh class, parents Barton Polot and Chris Coombe took action. They enlisted the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan to file a lawsuit against the school district on Aug. 7, asking the court to issue an injunction requiring the school to drop the fee.

The ACLU dropped the suit on Aug. 16 after the school board agreed not to implement the fees as planned, says Rana Elmir, a spokeswoman for the ACLU of Michigan.