Montgomery County Public School students are at least five dollars richer this school year, since the county updated its fee policy for the 2009-2010 year.

In past years, certain classes required course fees and the school collected an agenda book fee as well, but this year those class fees were greatly reduced and the agenda book was handed out for free in each homeroom.

The school board met multiple times prior to the start of the 2009 school year in order to create new fee guidelines. The MCPS website deciphered between the avoidable and unavoidable fees by stating that students may not be charged for "materials used to create a product that is eaten by or that becomes the property of" said student (MCPS). Examples of these include cooking utensils, general art supplies, sheet music, and science lab materials. To put it simply, no student can be charged for paper, food, or any other class material that is required for them to use.

According to an article in the Gazette, Louis Wilen, whose children attend Magruder High School, is behind this decrease in take-home fee lists. Parents, along with Wilen, joined together to lobby against the Maryland Department of Education to waive fees that were seen as "absolutely illegal."