Conference committee considers conditional fee to let approved independent high schools charge supplemental tuition

A House–Senate conference committee meeting on June 12 reviewed proposed bill language that would let certain approved independent receiving schools charge an additional fee equal to up to 0.05 of the foundation base for each student in grades 9 through 12, provided several conditions are met.

The language discussed would amend Section 27 (an amendment to section 823 in Title 16, described in the bill draft as the tuition section for all grades) to add a new subsection allowing a receiving school to charge an additional fee only if the receiving school (1) is an approved independent school functioning as an area career technical center or meets education quality standards, (2) receives approval from the State Board of Education to charge the fee under rules the board adopts, and (3) the electorate of each sending school district with at least one student attending that receiving school approves supplemental district spending sufficient to cover the fee.

Legislative Council staff described the proposal as “a change to section 27, which is an amendment to section 8 23 in title 16, which is currently the elementary tuition section,” and explained that the money-follows-the-student language in subsection a remains unchanged…