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February 8, 2010

Dalton schools hike tuition

Rachel Brown

Tuition will go up by $145 for out-of-district students attending Dalton Public Schools this fall.

Board of Education members voted unanimously to raise tuition from $855 to $1,000 during their monthly meeting Monday night. Board member Tulley Johnson was absent.

The new tuition rate will bring in a little more than $300,000, about $30,000 more than this year, if the same number of children continue attending. Board members say their decision was based on a desire to equalize the amount out-of-district students and Dalton property taxpayers contribute to their children’s education.

“We want good kids to come in to our system, but we also bear in mind that some are not as affluent as others,” said board chairman Steve Williams. “We don’t want to keep kids out.”

About 400 out-of-district students attend Dalton schools. Board members said they’ll likely consider gradually raising the amount to about $1,400 over the next couple of years. The average cost of educating a child is about $9,000, and about $4,500 comes from local funds. About 30 percent of the local funds — $1,400 — come from residential taxes.

“We will vow to look at that again in the future,” said board member Mark Orr.

Board member Danny Crutchfield said he recognizes now is a “hard time to ask anybody to pay more money for something,” and he favors stepping up tuition gradually.

The new tuition amount is based on the average residential property tax bill in the 2009 digest. The old amount was based on the average bill in 2005, the last time the board changed the amount.

Employees who live out of district will continue to pay $648 annually. Both employees and non-employees pay 75 percent of their respective rates for the second child and half for the third child.

Superintendent Jim Hawkins said several employees asked the rate not be increased.

Parent Mitch Land attended the meeting but did not speak. In an interview, he questioned the need for raising tuition, but he praised the board for the process they went through to approve the rate. Officials gathered information on how much similar school districts charge for tuition and also sought input from parents and the community.

“I thought the process they went through was fine,” Land said. “The increase they went through for our family of four was about 30 percent.”

In other business at the meeting, officials:

• Voted to lower substitute teacher pay rates, partly as a cost-saving measure and partly because all other employees except substitutes saw a reduction in pay earlier this year. Subs with an associate degree or higher will make $62.50 a day rather than $65, subs working between 11 and 19 days will be paid $70 instead of $79, and long-term subs working 20 or more days will make $110 instead of $133.24. Paraprofessional subs and those with less than an associate’s degree will continue to make $50. Estimated savings is $7,500.

• Approved eliminating Jan. 8, April 1 and June 4 as teacher workdays. Some employees, like cafeteria workers and some central office employees, will not be affected. Students will not attend school April 1, but officials said Dalton students already attend school the hourly equivalent of 10 days more than state law requires. The move will save the school system $650,000 in salaries, $12,000 in transportation costs and about $4,000 in utilities.

State funding to the school system has been cut the equivalent of six days’ pay plus a 4 percent reduction in the funding formula. It’s about $5 million than the $29.85 million the school system was expecting at the beginning of the school year.

• Recognized Blue Ridge, City Park, Dalton Middle, Roan and Park Creek schools for state awards celebrating their high participation in the school nutrition program. Nutrition director Amy Weaver-Akins said the recognition is especially meaningful since students are eating more leafy greens and orange vegetables than they were a few years ago.

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