Kinnaman PTO urges district to waive facility rental and custodial fees for Title I schools

Kinnaman Elementary PTO President Kayla Zareberg told the Beaverton School Board the PTO cannot afford newly imposed facility reservation and custodial fees and asked the district to waive those fees for Title I schools.

Zareberg said the district's new reservation system levies multiple fees that, in combination, make common events prohibitively expensive for the PTO. Using the school carnival as an example, she listed an application fee of $25, a building monitor fee of $105, a custodial fee of $280, a cafeteria fee of $90, a gym fee of $150, a covered outdoor area fee of $60, and a parking-lot fee of $140 — a total she calculated at about $850. Zareberg said a free trunk-or-treat event would cost about $450 under the new fee schedule and that, even if only custodial fees applied, six planned events would total $1,680, money the PTO does not have.

Sapphire Dorfman, identified as the PTO teacher liaison and a kindergarten teacher, joined Zareberg in raising concerns about how fees reduce programs the PTO funds for students, including buses, community nights, and classroom supplements.

Zareberg asked the board to "start" by waiving fees of any kind for Title I schools. She said fees directly reduce funds available for student opportunities and disproportionately affect families in lower-income schools.

Board members did not act on the request at the meeting; the comment was part of the public comment period, and staff did not provide an immediate response on whether a fee waiver is possible under current policy or budget constraints.