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District advances personalized education program policy to public hearing; procedures and tuition schedule to follow
Summary
The school district presented a proposed Neola policy to allow students on PEP/FES/Family Empowerment scholarships to take district classes for a fee; the board agreed to a 28‑day public hearing cycle and requested that procedures and a finalized fee matrix be presented with the policy at the next meeting
District staff presented a proposed policy on July 29 to allow students using the Family Empowerment Program (PEP) or similar scholarship programs to enroll in district courses on an a‑la‑carte, fee‑for‑service basis.
Assistant Superintendent Barbara Kidder and Dawn Williams, supervisor of School Choice, told the school board the policy would permit PEP scholarship students to take one or more classes at Hernando County Schools and that the district would charge tuition based on a fee matrix that the board received in the workshop materials.
Staff said the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for implementing the policy are not yet complete. The board and counsel discussed the statutory division between board policy and superintendent procedures: board members emphasized their statutory responsibility to approve policy while the superintendent typically adopts procedures to implement those policies. Staff agreed to present the completed procedures concurrently with the policy when it returns for formal approval after the 28‑day public hearing period.
On fees, staff presented a tuition matrix during the workshop. Staff explained those figures as follows (as provided in board materials): for grades 6–8 a per‑semester cost of $687.26 (year $1,374.52); for grades 9–12 a per‑semester cost of $697.22 (year $1,394.44). ESE (special education) allocations and survey/semester distinctions were noted as increasing the per‑course totals for students with those designations (staff cited an example total of $4,277.94 for certain ESE computations). Career and technical education (CTE) course totals were shown in the materials at $1,511.56 per year for grades 9–12. Staff said they would clarify terminology on the published schedule (for example, replacing references to “survey 2 and 3” with “semester 1 and semester 2” to improve public understanding).
Board members asked that the SOPs be provided for review and approval at the same time as the policy to allow the district to move quickly if the policy is approved. Staff agreed to present the procedures and the revised fee schedule at the board meeting following the required 28‑day public hearing period.
The board did not vote on the policy at the workshop; the policy will return for public hearing and formal approval at a subsequent meeting, with staff counsel and procurement/finance teams to provide the finalized procedures and fiscal clarifications.
