Parents: Fees too high in Glen Ellyn Dist. 41
How much should families pay for student fees in Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41?
The district received $286,931 in student fees last year, a small fraction of the overall budget that one dad, Bruce Currie, says should be covered out of the district's roughly $16 million in reserves.
Add in the supply list for her two kids, and mom Jennifer Rath, whose husband sought a seat on the school board in April, pays "a good $500," a cost she deemed a "little bit outrageous."
"I have trouble with all the fees. It's a public school," school board member Kurt Buchholz said recently. "We should be providing these things."
The questions about fees come as the board considers introducing a new $30 tech fee to cover insurance costs for student laptops next year - when all students in the district's elementary schools are expected to have a Chromebook.
This year, roughly 1,400 Chromebooks were issued only to Hadley Junior High and level three Ben Franklin Elementary students. The district did not charge a fee, officials say, because its tech team could handle repairs in-house and pay for parts on a case-by-case basis. But with more Chromebooks - the district plans to roll out as many as 3,200 for the 2016-17 school year - they say they can't manage that load on their own, and the insurance coverage would provide a turnkey repair service.
Currently, the district charges so-called basic fees to offset the costs of classroom materials and online resources: $56 for students in kindergarten and the early childhood program; $75 for elementary school students; and $115 for junior high students.
Activity fees help defray the stipend costs for athletic coaches and club sponsors only at Hadley: $30 for the first extracurricular; $15 for the second; $7.50 for the third; and $3.75 for the fourth. Board member Joe Bochenski has said he's in favor of eliminating those fees, which raised $12,214 last year and "marginally subsidizes" the stipends.
Only the board's finance committee, not the full board, has discussed the issue.
The $16.2 million in district reserves, from all funds, was calculated on June 30, said Rebecca Allard, interim assistant superintendent for finance, facilities and operations. She encouraged the board last week to adopt a policy for how much to keep in reserves. It only has a procedure in writing with steps to take if reserves fall above or below 25 percent of the district's expenses in five funds.
In June, the district had 27 percent, or $11.6 million in reserves from those five funds, Allard said. Other school districts she's worked for typically set their policy at 33 percent.
She also expects in January to recommend the board dip into reserves and transfer about $1.8 million to pay for construction projects next summer and classroom additions at Churchill Elementary.