District 220 fees will be a push

With some fees going up and others going down, the cost of attending school in Barrington Area Unit District 220 is staying about the same next year.

The school board has approved the 2008-09 fees, which include costs for things like technology and materials, along with yearbooks, ID cards and parking.

"For the most part, it is about a wash," said Tom Beerheide, the district's director of fiscal services on the change from this year to next.

The largest increases will be seen in technology fees. Those will rise from $50 to $60 for middle school students and from $50 to $65 at the high school level.

"Obviously, (the district's) costs are continuing to go up in that area," Beerheide said.

Another fee increasing next year is that for instructional music, which is being raised from $32 to $35 for all levels.

Fees that are being decreased are for materials, ID cards, physical education uniforms, yearbooks for middle schoolers and parking for high school seniors.

Newly negotiated contracts, like the one the district agreed to for middle school yearbooks, helped drive some of these costs down, officials said.

"We thought we would pass those savings along to the students," said Gary Frisch, the district's chief financial officer.

Last year, costs were raised across the board by 3.4 percent, the Consumer Price Index.

Those kinds of increases were avoided this year, Beerheide said by more efficient operations at the school level and better budgeting and financial forecasting at the administration level.

Fees for the 2008-09 school year will start being collected next month, with the process being wrapped up by September.