Durango School District 9-R will be taking a hard look at the fees it charges to students after a community member’s request brought the subject to light more than a year ago.

The school board had a first look at lists of fees charged to district students during its Tuesday night meeting.

The district’s goal is to create a new approval process for all fees that would include getting the final OK from the board.

“We want to make the process much more streamlined where the board understands the logic behind it all,” board president Jeff Schell said.

State law and district policy already mandate that the board of education approves all student fees, a fact that several administrators were surprised to find out, said Bill Esterbrook, the district’s interim superintendent.

As a result, it’s likely that some fees have flown under the radar without going through a formal vetting process by the board, Schell said.

Schell said he approved only one fee in the six years he has been on the board.

The district also intends to review all existing fees to evaluate whether they are valid and fair.

“It appears that there have been some fees that have been charged for years, and it’s time to look at them and say, is that a fee? Is that something we should be charging or something we should be providing out of our budgets?” Esterbrook said.

The registration fees charged to every middle and high school student immediately drew question from Laine Gibson, the district’s chief financial officer.

“I don’t personally believe if there’s a mandatory registration fee to go to school, how can we call that free public education?” Gibson said of the fees that range from $20 at the middle school level to $40 at the high school level.

Other costs, for extracurricular activities and individual classes, very widely.

It’s $20 to play one sport at the middle-school level and high school students are charged $50 per sport.

At Durango High School, the cost of extracurricular activities such as Culinary Arts and Future Farmers of America is less than $40 while the fee for the competitive cheer team is $600 to cover uniform, accessories and summer camp expenses.

Students also are charged to take many of the Advanced Placement classes at the high school. Some of those classes cost $10 to $20 each, while others require students to purchase the textbook.

Pre-SAT tests are $20, $6 of which covers the costs for teachers to proctor the exam because the school has chosen to do it on a Saturday rather than during a school day.

Among elective classes, the charges range from $15 for many arts classes to $80 for a cooking class. Most of those fees pay for supplies and equipment.

Middle schools’ fees lists are much shorter. Woodshop, food and art classes charge $10 to $15 at both schools. Field trips range from $5 to $100 for longer trips.

The district did not collect fees records from elementary schools because they are so few and include mostly field trip costs, Esterbrook said.

Where student fees are deposited was a cause for concern among board members. Right now, student fees go into the same account as revenues the district collects and spends on specific purposes, such as parking fees. Board members wanted to separate student fees into a different account to clarify how much money the district has in reserve to possibly cover those fees.

The board decided to bring up the issue of fees at the public budget work session the district holds each year in March. In the meantime, district administrators will continue to evaluate the necessity and the appropriate cost of each fee, Gibson said.

ecowan@durangoherald.com