District to start charging fee for driver's ed
Base teacher's salary raised by $400
By JENNIFER WILSON
News editor
Teen-agers, listen up:
If you're looking to drive, you'd better start saving your pennies.
Driver's education isn't free anymore at Hillsboro High School.
At its regular monthly meeting Monday night, the USD 410 board of education voted to begin charging a $75 fee for driver's ed classes. For reduced-lunch students that goes down to $37.50, and for free-lunch students the cost is $15.
The new fees should generate around $4,000 for the school district, said Superintendent Gordon Mohn. The actual cost per student is between $180 and $200.
Some board members asked whether or not the class was absolutely necessary, since students take it as an elective.
Board member Rod Koons asked who benefits from the classes.
The entire public benefits, said athletic director Max Heinrichs, by keeping kids safe on the road and averting accidents.
"I would hate to see a kid not take it and slam his brakes on the ice," he said.
Heinrichs taught driver's ed classes in Lindsborg this summer, he said, and the Smoky Valley district was charging $150 per student.
"I think it's a very fair price," he said.
And putting a price tag on the driver's ed classes will make them more valuable in the public's eyes, Koons said. People value something more if it's not free.
The first year of payment will be "sticker shock" for some families, board members acknowledged.
Another area where parents will feel more pressure on the pocketbook is in textbook rental fees.
The board voted to raise textbook rental fees $5 for every student, including the students who previously paid nothing because they're in the free lunch program.
The price will go from $15 to $20 for kindergarten students and $25 to $30 for students in grades one through 12.
For those with reduced lunches, the price goes up from $15 to $20. And for those previously paying nothing, the price will now be $5.
The increase will net USD 410 just about $3,000 — but with the district's overall book costs exceeding $100,000, this increase "won't make or break us," Mohn said.
Said Koons, "I think it brings ownership to the product they're leaving the school with."
The board also talked about next year's budget, and the bottom line is this: USD 410 will not raise your property taxes.
In previous meetings, the district thought its budget woes could mean a shortfall of more than $300,000.
Now that figure is closer to $130,000 Mohn said. And the budget will be smaller for next year anyway.
The district plans to increase the LOB percentage to its maximum of 25 while dropping the mill levy number from 19 to 17. At the same time, the bond and interest mill levy will go up from 5.702 to 7.714 — keeping the mill levy exactly the same as before.
How is this possible? It's thanks to Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who decided that home owners will pay their property taxes a month earlier next year: June 2004 instead of July 2004.
That extra cash will go into USD 410's 2003-04 school year — allowing it to reserve about $55,000 for next year.
The end result: With this windfall, the district will generate more money with fewer mills, Mohn said.
In other board business:
— The board approved the master contract that decides the salaries and benefits for all district teachers and certified staff.
The contract was approved 30-5 in a vote by teachers, according to Mike Moran, elementary school counselor.
The main change is the 2.259 percent increase in salary and benefits — that number is equal to the increase that administrators received.
Also in the contract, staff will receive two days of unpaid leave and allow them to accumulate up to six days of personal leave. The base salary — or the salary for new teachers with just a bachelor's degree — went up from $26,250 to $26,650.
— Bus driver Gladys Funk announced her retirement.
— Pay for substitute teachers increased from $80 per day to $82.50 per day. If a sub teaches for more than 11 days in a row, he or she will then earn $138.80 per day — an amount equal to the regular teacher contract. That larger amount is retroactive to the sub's first day.
— Hillsboro Star-Journal was named as the official paper to publish all USD 410 legal notices.
