Mt. Healthy City Board keeps school fees waived for 2021–22, will monitor impact

The Mt. Healthy City Board of Education voted unanimously to continue waiving general school fees for the 2021–22 school year and to monitor the fiscal and programmatic effects.

Superintendent Dr. Valerie Hawkins opened the discussion by noting that the district did not charge pay-to-play or general school fees last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and that some fees were previously waived. Hawkins said the district wanted to encourage students to enroll in electives such as choir, culinary and art and avoid creating financial obstacles. "We did not charge any school fees," she said when describing the district's approach during the last year.

Treasurer Rebecca J. Brooks told the board that the last year the district collected regular fees, total revenue from those fees was "below $10,000," and that fee collection had been declining for several years. Trustees and staff acknowledged that some fees are already waived by law for students on free or reduced-price lunch and discussed pursuing grants to cover fees tied to special classes (for example, culinary or art supplies).

Board members signaled support for waiving the fees again for this school year and asked staff to track the operational workload on school secretaries and the budget impact. The board did not specify a dollar figure for the district's estimated shortfall from the waiver; during discussion staff referenced about $10,000 in typical prior collections and separately noted that a borrowing tied to the early learning center left roughly $960,000 outstanding for that project.

The motion to continue the fee waiver was put by Missus Ellis, seconded by Mister Glenn, and approved unanimously by Miss Bryant, Missus Ellis, Mister Glenn and Doctor Turner.

The board directed staff to pursue grant funding where possible and to report back with data on enrollment in fee-based classes and financial effects before reconsidering reinstating fees.