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Prairie View School Board Raises Enrollment Fees
Elementary And Middle School Annual Fees Will Go Up $10; High School Up $20
By Corey Preston, Coreypreston@miconews.com
Seeking to at least partially shore up student costs, particularly at the high school level, the Prairie View school board voted to raise enrollment fees for all students for the 2008-2009 school year.
The board stopped short of a recommendation to more than double high school student fees, however, agreeing that the jump from a $30 annual fee for high school students to $70 was too great an increase over one year.
The board wound up raising all enrollment fees other than high school enrollment $10 apiece, to $25 annually for kindergarten and pre-K students, $35 for elementary students and $40 for middle school students. The high school fee was raised $20, from $30 to an annual fee of $50.
Superintendent Chris Kleidosty said the increases were necessary to help fund a portion of rising student costs for annual expenses such as science lab costs, books, music program and technology equipment. Kleidosty, noting that high school students simply cost more than other students, initially proposed raising the high school enrollment fee to $70 per year. That would bring in an extra $12,000 in revenue to help offset about $47,000 in costs for the art, technology and music programs and science labs, he said.
“Some districts nickel and dime students to death,” Kleidosty said, noting that other districts charge specific fees for things such as instrument rental, lab participation and art supplies. “I want to avoid that because I don’t think we want students choosing to enroll or not enroll because of additional costs.”
Ultimately, the board agreed that high school students carry more expenses than younger students, but it opted to limit the fee increase. The board also raised the maximum family enrollment fee from $85 to $110, meaning that a family with multiple students in the district will pay no more than $110 annually.
The board also increased Intro to Ag and FFA fees from $5 annually to $10 and increased food service prices $0.15 across the board, to $1.25 for student breakfast and $1.50 for adult breakfast and to $2 for elementary lunch, $2.25 for secondary lunch and $3 for adult lunch.
In other business Monday, the board:
Accepted a revamped calendar for the 2008-2009 school year. The board rescinded a calendar accepted in January that set up early dismissal on alternating Wednesdays to allow for more frequent student in-service time. Kleidosty said the district would continue looking at “professional learning communities,” the style of targeted in-service the district was hoping to enact, but that the district was not yet ready for the change.
The new calendar is similar to the calendar from this past year, Kleidosty said, although the way the year worked out required the placement of teacher in-service days on Aug. 8, the first day teachers are due back prior to an Aug. 13 student start date, and on Jan. 2, to accommodate a teacher request for no school the week of Christmas.
Kleidosty said he’d tried to include as many teacher requests as possible, such as uniform conference days moved earlier in the semester — to February 12 and 19 — to accommodate earlier teacher intervention if a student has problems.
Accepted changes to various school and organization handbooks for next school year.
The most significant change was to the coaches’ handbook, which for the first time included a specific reference to head coach reviews by the athletic director and a mechanism for conducting those reviews.
Approved the purchase of 20 new Dell desktop computers for roughly $48,000.
The bulk of the purchase price came from 10 specialized systems, carrying a cost of $3,832 apiece, that will be used for drafting classes.
The board was reluctant to purchase the more expensive models, but was told that downgrading would yield minimal savings.
Approved the hiring of Randy Leach and Kevin Sladky as drivers education instructors, and Angie Nash as an assistant for the summer program.
Paying the three positions costs about $460 per day, the board was told, or about $13,000 for the 26 day program.
The school receives roughly $4,000 in revenue, charging $102 per student, meaning the board will have to approve roughly $9,000 to fully fund the program at some point this summer.
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The board stopped short of a recommendation to more than double high school student fees, however, agreeing that the jump from a $30 annual fee for high school students to $70 was too great an increase over one year.
The board wound up raising all enrollment fees other than high school enrollment $10 apiece, to $25 annually for kindergarten and pre-K students, $35 for elementary students and $40 for middle school students. The high school fee was raised $20, from $30 to an annual fee of $50.
Superintendent Chris Kleidosty said the increases were necessary to help fund a portion of rising student costs for annual expenses such as science lab costs, books, music program and technology equipment. Kleidosty, noting that high school students simply cost more than other students, initially proposed raising the high school enrollment fee to $70 per year. That would bring in an extra $12,000 in revenue to help offset about $47,000 in costs for the art, technology and music programs and science labs, he said.
“Some districts nickel and dime students to death,” Kleidosty said, noting that other districts charge specific fees for things such as instrument rental, lab participation and art supplies. “I want to avoid that because I don’t think we want students choosing to enroll or not enroll because of additional costs.”
Ultimately, the board agreed that high school students carry more expenses than younger students, but it opted to limit the fee increase. The board also raised the maximum family enrollment fee from $85 to $110, meaning that a family with multiple students in the district will pay no more than $110 annually.
The board also increased Intro to Ag and FFA fees from $5 annually to $10 and increased food service prices $0.15 across the board, to $1.25 for student breakfast and $1.50 for adult breakfast and to $2 for elementary lunch, $2.25 for secondary lunch and $3 for adult lunch.
In other business Monday, the board:
Accepted a revamped calendar for the 2008-2009 school year. The board rescinded a calendar accepted in January that set up early dismissal on alternating Wednesdays to allow for more frequent student in-service time. Kleidosty said the district would continue looking at “professional learning communities,” the style of targeted in-service the district was hoping to enact, but that the district was not yet ready for the change.
The new calendar is similar to the calendar from this past year, Kleidosty said, although the way the year worked out required the placement of teacher in-service days on Aug. 8, the first day teachers are due back prior to an Aug. 13 student start date, and on Jan. 2, to accommodate a teacher request for no school the week of Christmas.
Kleidosty said he’d tried to include as many teacher requests as possible, such as uniform conference days moved earlier in the semester — to February 12 and 19 — to accommodate earlier teacher intervention if a student has problems.
Accepted changes to various school and organization handbooks for next school year.
The most significant change was to the coaches’ handbook, which for the first time included a specific reference to head coach reviews by the athletic director and a mechanism for conducting those reviews.
Approved the purchase of 20 new Dell desktop computers for roughly $48,000.
The bulk of the purchase price came from 10 specialized systems, carrying a cost of $3,832 apiece, that will be used for drafting classes.
The board was reluctant to purchase the more expensive models, but was told that downgrading would yield minimal savings.
Approved the hiring of Randy Leach and Kevin Sladky as drivers education instructors, and Angie Nash as an assistant for the summer program.
Paying the three positions costs about $460 per day, the board was told, or about $13,000 for the 26 day program.
The school receives roughly $4,000 in revenue, charging $102 per student, meaning the board will have to approve roughly $9,000 to fully fund the program at some point this summer.