Fee increases for Pocatello/Chubbuck school district

Tuesday’s regular School District 25 meeting was a big one.

Items on the agenda included preparing for thenext school year’s budget, and a change in some fees.

But what does all this mean for the upcoming school year?

The fee changes won’t affect extracurricular activities but are more focused on the classroom. Some classes will experience a decrease in enrollment fees, while others will see slight increases.

Superintendent Mary Vagner said state purse strings have been tightening for years.

“We have been receiving declining monies from the state for a number of years,” Vagner said. “We have not gotten monies from the state to support supplies and equipment in our classrooms.”

So the school district had to look at ways to make up for the loss.

Any student taking a pottery class this upcoming year will see the fee go from $25 to $10.

Unfortunately the decreases end there. Among the classes that will see fee increases are family and consumer science classes

“We have a slight fee for that program to pay for food, because the students learn to cook,” Vagner explained. “The students also learn to sew if they choose that class.”

And the additional costs will go to pay for those materials.

The superintendent also said there are continuing difficulties in other areas, like current books and reading materials.

“We’re downloading as much as we can that’s free,” she said, “But as we continue to download, our paper costs are going up.”

And with less money to spend on paper, the solutions create more problems from the lack of funding.

Numbers indicate the school district has experienced a slight increase in student enrollment and a continuing decrease in the money to educate students.

But this won’t deter the district from its hard work.

“We offer an excellent education in this community,” said Vagner.

She also said these budget decisions are tough choices to make.

But she encouraged anyone concerned about the funding losses to contact our state legislators.

To review the full budget, click here. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required.