Here is what the Attorney General had to say about such practices:
THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
John W. McCormack State Office building
One Ashburton Place, Boston, MA. 02108
The Department of the Attorney General has declared that all public schools that prohibit students from using a nonofficial photographer to produce their senior portraits are in violation of the Massachusetts Antitrust Act, General Law Chapter 93, Section 4.
A memo from the Attorney General’s office states:
“While the Department is sympathetic to the difficulties inherent in financing high school yearbooks, it is in violation of the law to bar non official photographers from having their images used in the yearbook. The agreement made between the official photographer and the high school is not a contract between the student and the official photographer. We do not object to the practice of designating an official yearbook photographer and offering them access to school property in exchange for assistance in the production of yearbooks. We also do not object to the high school requiring students who employ nonofficial photographers to meet deadlines and publish specifications in order to use their image in the yearbook. We do believe, however, that a total ban or the assessment of a fee for that privilege places and onerous and illegal burden upon the ability of nonofficial photographers to compete in the senior portrait market.”
We thought you should know all the facts should your student get one of these letters from the school photographer.