Since the school is complaining about never having enough money, why not have the students pay a textbook rental fee? This is what I did every year growing up. In fact, my mom subscribes to my old hometown newspaper for me, and they just had the fees published. People may apply for assistance if they cannot pay. I would guess the criteria are similar to what you would meet for free and reduced meals. The fees ranged from $32.10 for kindergarten to $108.90 for 5th grade. Higher grades vary by student class choices. Beyond the initial outrage from parents, do you think this would be a good idea and would it work here?

I always though it was great idea for students to own their own books, but had never thought of renting them. The prospect of owning the books always appealed to me because I could write in it, or do anything else to it that I wanted to.