Glencoe School District 35 will not charge registration fees for the 2022-2023 school year, with the school board indicating it is not necessary – for now – to collect that money for the student experience.
District 35 school board members voted at the Feb. 3 board meeting to halt collection of the registration fees. Officials said the approximately $125,000 in revenue the fees generate is usually used for such items as workbooks, reading materials and supplies.
Superintendent Catherine Wang likened this move to previous board decisions on providing full-day kindergarten and supplying iPads without charge.
“Philosophically, if we believe these are the things a child needs to be a part of District 35 and have a successful educational experience, should we be also asking parents to pay for the must-haves?” Wang asked.
She said items registration fees are used to pay for “are things that we need every day to do what we do and have the learning experience that we believe in our classrooms. There is a little bit of a disconnect to also say please pay us for providing this.”
Currently, registration fees are $106 at West School, where third and fourth graders attend and $125 for the kindergarten through second grade students at South School. At Central School, the fees are $148 for sixth grade, $165 for fifth grade and $192 for seventh and eighth grades.
Officials said the district started assessing the fees starting in the 1990s and they were intended to defray costs.
In recent years, District 35 had over $25 million in revenue with a budget surplus of more than $2 million, according to officials.
While acknowledging the fees have generated a lot of money, board President Kelly Glauberman supported the idea of not having them next school year.
“The philosophy of the fees is becoming untenable,” she said.
The board also considered an outright elimination of the fees, but some members wanted to see how the suspension of them next school year goes.
While voting for the suspension, board Vice President Marc Gale also expressed some hesitation.
“I like the idea of giving something back, I am not sure this is the right mechanism,” he said.
School board members acknowledged the suspension of the fees would only impact families with children in District 35.
District officials indicated a discussion on some type of property tax relief that would affect a larger portion of the community could happen later this year. Currently, SD35 represents roughly one third of the total property tax bill in Glencoe.
Edelheit said a discussion of the district’s transportation fees would be held at the March meeting.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelancer.
