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District says new state school-fee law will eliminate roughly $1 million in classroom fees; board weighing options
Summary
Board staff told the Washington County School District working session that a recent state law restricting curricular and general fees will cost the district “just over a million dollars” in classroom fee revenue and could shift costs onto extracurricular participants unless the district or state provides offsets.
Board staff told the Washington County School District’s Dec. 9 working session that a recent state law restricting what schools may charge students for curricular items will eliminate roughly $1,000,000 in classroom fees and force changes in how the district funds supplies and activities.
The district’s presentation summarized the law’s current interpretation: general fees and most curricular fees must be eliminated except where an item is an elective or the student keeps the item after the course (for example, a finished pottery vase). Consumable supplies that are used up in class may not be charged. The law still allows optional extracurricular charges — and, in some cases, charges to cover replacement value of equipment for extracurricular programs.
The immediate effect, staff said, is a budget gap for items previously paid for by curricular fees. “For our school district, it’s just over a million dollars,” an unnamed district staff member told the board when asked to quantify the shortfall. Staff said the legislature provided a portion of funding tied to the measure and that the state allocated approximately $30 million of a larger $50 million proposal to districts statewide; that amount is intended to be spread over several years and will not fully replace lost fee revenue.
Board members discussed practical implications: band instrument rental remains a permitted charge; optional activity cards at the high-school level can be offered but must be optional; fundraising has been removed from the fee framework so schools may fundraise without placing proceeds on a district spend plan. The board heard that charging for replacement costs of athletic equipment (hurdles, shot puts, etc.) is allowed under the extracurricular carve‑out but will be difficult to calculate and may shift costs to a smaller group of families who participate in those activities.
Several members urged caution and uniformity across schools so families are treated consistently. One board member suggested using general-fund reserves or adjusting local property-tax revenues to offset the gap; staff responded those are options but come with tradeoffs and legal/operational limits.
What’s next: staff said they will prepare spend plans based on the current bill language, meet with principals to coordinate consistent approaches across schools, and monitor any changes in the bill as it moves through the legislature. The board did not take a formal vote on policy at the working session.
