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Box Elder board eliminates class fees, administrators to use TSSA funds to cover costs
Summary
The Box Elder School District board approved a 2025–26 student-fee schedule that removes general and class fees and directs Teacher Student Success Act (TSSA) funds toward covering most secondary class costs. District staff said roughly $580,000 of TSSA funds would nearly cover the shortfall; extracurricular and optional fees would remain fee‑waivable.
The Box Elder School District board voted to eliminate the district’s general class fee structure for the 2025–26 school year and to use a portion of the Teacher Student Success Act (TSSA) funds to cover most resulting costs. The motion to approve the 2025–26 general student fees schedule passed during the board’s June hearing after staff explained options for complying with a new state law requiring itemized class fees.
Administrators told the board that House Bill 415, effective July 1, prohibits a blanket general class fee and requires an itemized fee schedule and a free route to graduate for students. Keith Meekum, who presented the fee analysis, said the district previously charged a $91 general class fee plus a $25 student‑body fee; those blanket charges cannot continue under the law. Meekum said district officials calculated that roughly $580,000 of TSSA funds could be repurposed to eliminate most class fees so students could enroll without per‑class charges. He summarized the options as either implement itemized fees per class or eliminate the class fees and “use our TSSA money,” which the district leadership recommended.
Board members pressed staff on sustainability, asking whether TSSA funding is stable enough to assume in future years. Meekum said the TSSA program has been funded consistently and has increased historically but cautioned that future appropriations cannot be guaranteed. Administrators described protections: fee waivers still apply for qualifying families (federal free-and-reduced‑price lunch criteria), hardship waivers are available, and the district would monitor the program’s fiscal impact and report back in April before formal fee adoption.
Under the district proposal, optional extracurricular charges (for example, some competitive teams or instrument rentals) and college/AP enrollment fees would remain and continue to be fee‑waivable. Meekum said the district would post the itemized fee schedule publicly and ensure school-level administrators implement fee waivers and hardship processes. The board motion to approve the fee schedule was made and seconded during the meeting and carried; staff said they would publish the final fee schedule on each school and the district website.
What’s next: The fee schedule approved at the meeting will be posted on school and district websites; administrators said they will monitor TSSA allocations and report how the change performed prior to the April deadline required by state law.
