Central Greene backtracks against fee
WAYNESBURG – Central Greene School District reversed course on an idea to make every student, grades kindergarten through 12th, pay a fee to go to school.
“There were questions about the legality of that,” board solicitor Kirk King said. “I would have to research that more, but at this point, the board is not considering that.”
The suggestion was made by Superintendent Brian Uplinger in June after the board retired the pay-to-participate fee, which charged students $40 to participate in extracurricular activities like sports and band.
The board retired the pay-to-participate policy because of districtwide issues with it, such as not charging certain groups of students or activities, and confusion over how the money was collected.
Uplinger said in June the board had discussed the possibility of a $10 to $15 “technology” or “services” fee that all students would pay, bringing in between $17,800 and $26,800 per year. But King said the board would like to implement a more traditional policy that would only charge students who participate in extracurricular activities and will discuss it at an August policy committee meeting.
“We’re running that back through committee and full board to see what the best options are for our students,” he said.
Uplinger, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, said in June the board wants to have a new policy in place by the start of the 2016-17 school year.
If they don’t enact a new policy within the next month, students won’t have to pay for an extracurricular activity because the previous policy was retired.