Posts made in March, 2014

Our charter contract with Lowell states that will not charge tuition. I did some digging on the State’s web site and found the following rules regarding tuition.

• Defined as payment for the cost of instruction.
• It can be charged, but it has to be for classes that are not part of the regular school program.
• It must be waived for a pupil who is a member of a low-income family
• “Low-income family” means a family whose children qualify for free or reduced price school meals under a federal program
• Charges shall not exceed the estimated cost to furnish the program, class or course of study.
• No program, class or course of study for which tuition is charged, shall be eligible for reimbursement from state funds.

We’d have to get Lowell to amend our contract, but if we wanted to charge tuition we would have to create a class that is not part of our regular school program and not charge “low income families”. I found the following rules regarding fees:

• A charter school may not require payment of fees as a condition of admission to those pupils entitled under the law to free admission (defined in 339.115).
• The following are not considered as conditions of admission:
  • Textbook security deposit
  • Locker lock deposit
  • Appropriate fee for PE uniforms
  • PE towel usage fee
  • Use of musical instruments owned or rented by the school
  • In any program where the resultant product, in excess of minimum course requirements and at the pupil’s option, becomes the personal property of the pupil.
  • Admission fees or charges for extracurricular activities where pupil attendance is optional.
  • A security deposit conditioned on the return of materials, supplies or equipment including athletic equipment.
  • Items of personal use or products which a pupil may purchase such as student publications, class rings, annuals and graduation announcements.
  • Field trips considered optional to a district’s or public charter school’s regular school program.
  • Any authorized voluntary pupil health and accident benefit plan.

After reviewing the state rules regarding the activity fee. We have decided that the $250 activity will cover the following items:

To help us maintain compliance with our charter contract I’ve created a Charter requirements page that lists an abridged version of the charter contract. It only contains items that are requirements above and beyond those of the State of Oregon and the federal government.