FILE:  JS

Cf:  JR

STUDENT FEES, FINES AND CHARGES

The Monroe City School Board may impose certain student fees or charges to help offset special costs incurred in the operation of specific classrooms or subjects.  Generally, students should not be denied or delayed admission nor denied access to any instructional activity due to failure or inability of their parent or guardian to pay a fee.  Report cards and other academic records cannot be withheld for failure to pay a fee, pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:112(C).

The School Board shall ensure that the following information regarding student fees be published on the School Board’s website and on the website of each school, as well as in each school’s student handbook:

• descriptions of each student fee being charged,

• the dollar amount of each student fee,

• how each student fee will be collected and used,

• the deadline by which each student fee is due and the desired method of payment,

• the process for collection of unpaid fees,

• the process whereby students and families may request an economic hardship waiver,

• the criteria by which economic hardship waivers may be approved, and

• the process whereby any denial of request for waiver may be appealed.

Such information shall be reviewed and updated by the Superintendent and staff annually prior to the start of the school year.

Economic Hardship Waivers

The School Board may reduce or waive certain fees for economically disadvantaged students and students whose families are experiencing economic hardships and are financially unable to pay them.  Examples of families facing economic hardship include, but are not necessarily limited to, families receiving unemployment benefits or public assistance, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicaid; foster families caring for children in foster care; and families that are homeless.

All requests for economic hardship waivers of student fees and any and all supporting documentation used in considering the validity of any request for a waiver shall be confidential.

DAMAGE TO TEXTBOOKS/INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

The School Board may require parents and/or legal guardians to compensate the school district for lost, destroyed, or unnecessarily damaged books and materials, and for any books which are not returned to the proper schools at the end of each school year or upon withdrawal of their dependent child.  Under no circumstances may a student of school age be held financially responsible for fees associated with textbook replacement; however, parents or guardians will be held financially responsible for fees associated with replacement of textbook.

Compensation by parents or guardians may be in the form of monetary fees or as determined by the School Board.  In the case of monetary fees, fines shall be limited to no more than the replacement cost of the textbook or material, but may, at the discretion of the School Board, be adjusted according to the physical condition of the lost or destroyed textbook.  The School Board may waive or reduce the payment required if the student is from a family of low income and may provide for a method of payment other than lump-sum payment.

Under no circumstances may a school or school district refuse the parent/guardian the right to inspect relevant grades or records pertaining to the child nor may the school or school district refuse to promptly transfer the records of any child withdrawing or transferring from the school, per requirements of the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Under no circumstances may a school or school district deny a student promotional opportunities, as a result of failure to compensate the school district for lost or damaged textbooks.  Students shall not be denied continual enrollment each grading period nor re-entry in succeeding school years as a result of lost or damaged books.

Students shall not be denied the use of a textbook during school hours each day.  The school system shall annually inform parents and/or legal guardians of the locally adopted procedures pursuant to state law and regulation, regarding reasonable and proper control of textbooks.

Revised:  October 3, 2017

Ref:    20 USC 1232 (g-i) (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81, 17:112

Board minutes, 10-3-17

Monroe City School Board