Schools
Board Tables Vote on Student Fees
Proposal would keep student fees at their current rate, but impose a 20 percent fine for parents who do not register their students on time.
The Valley View board of education voted 4-2 to table a vote that would have imposed a for parents who do not register their students on time.
Board member Mike Evans said he made the motion to table the vote so that the district’s finance committee could review Assistant Superintendent of Adminstrative Services Gary Grizaffi’s proposal to leave student fees at their current level for the 2011-12 school year, but to fine parents who pay registration fees late.
“We haven’t had a chance to review the proposal as it relates to the current budget discussion,” Evans said Monday.
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Board members Rick Gougis and Liz Campbell voted against postponing the vote, while Evans, Ronnie Bull, Steve Quigley and Leo Venegas voted yes. Board vice president Jim Curran was absent.
Grizaffi said the proposal would encourage more families to attend back to school registration events and register their students before the first day of school.
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According to Grizaffi, district data shows that 15 to 16 percent of families typically fail to register their students on time.
"At Bolingbrook High School, that's almost 600 students," he said, noting that such a large number of unregistered students can cause long lines and academic delays on the first day of school as parents scramble to register pupils and pay fees.
“It takes away from our core mission” of educating students, Grizaffi said. “It is, I think, unfair that we continue to have between 15 and 16 percent of our household shirk the registration process. We have to mobilize a lot of our resources to get students up to speed that first week (of school) …when they should be receiving instruction.”
The proposal would impose a 20 percent late charge on parents who do not register their children by Aug. 16. The late charge would boost student fees from $40 to $45 per year at the elementary level, $100 to $120 at the middle school level and $150 to $180 at the high school level.
Evans said the proposal come up for a vote at the next board of education meeting, slated for March 14.
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