West Aurora School District student registration fees would remain the same for next school year as they have for the past six years under a proposal being eyed by the district’s school board.
“Our recommendation is that we hold registration fees where they are,” West Aurora School District Associate Superintendent of Operations Angie Smith said at Tuesday’s board meeting.
No formal board vote has been taken yet on the fees.
The registration fees for the 2026-27 school year would remain at $225 for the high school and $350 for driver education, and $175 for the middle schools and $125 for elementary schools, according to the proposal.
The last increase in fees reflected a technology insurance fee for student-issued devices beginning in the 2020-21 school year, according to district officials. The move back then impacted registration fees across all grade levels.
Under the new proposal, the district would no longer provide a $100 credit for re-registration of a student.
“Historically for the last several years, we have been providing a $100 incentive for student re-registration by a certain date,” Smith said.
The credit was provided when there wasn’t a whole lot of incentive for families to register their children in the school in a timely fashion. Early registrations assist the district in establishing the need for staffing in buildings, Smith told the board.
Due to these efforts, fewer families need to go through the re-registration process because addresses can easily be verified in the system, she said.
“We are going to remove the $100 incentive because virtually almost everyone will not have to re-register. That is a change,” Smith said.
There are approximately 10%-12% of families who may have recently moved to another address that the district cannot verify. In those situations, families will need to go through the normal process and provide documentation of residency.
All fees are eligible for waivers, the associate superintendent of operations said.
“Whether it is these fees or athletic fees, they are eligible for a waiver. If families receive state benefits, we automatically waive fees,” Smith said.
Fee waiver applications based on income or hardship are available as well. The information is kept confidential, Smith said.
In addition, athletic fees and activity fees that are participation-based would remain at the current level under the proposal.
“Our fees are considerably lower than our neighbors. We know that students that are more connected via participation in a sport or an activity statistically do better in school. Our fee structure helps support that,” Smith said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
