Bill would let approved independent receiving schools charge extra fee for grades 9–12 under conditions

Legislative Council staff walked lawmakers through an amendment on June 12 that would let certain approved independent receiving schools charge an additional fee equal to up to 0.05 of the base tuition amount for students in grades 9 through 12 if specific conditions are met.

The change, described by a Legislative Council staff member, would amend Section 27 and Title 16 to make the tuition statute apply to all grades and add a new subsection allowing an extra fee “in the amount of the product of the base amount and up to 0.05 for each student attending the receiving school in grades 9 through 12 only if all of the following conditions are met.” The staff member said the proposal keeps the existing “money follows the student” language for base tuition and weights but adds the new conditional fee authority.

Why it matters: the amendment would extend a mechanism similar to local supplemental district spending to eligible independent schools but only after multiple approvals. Under the language recited by Legislative Council staff, the extra fee could be charged only if (1) the receiving…