New Trier has a budget close to 100 million dollars. Coming mostly from property taxes, every homeowner in the New Trier Township area is partially funding the school.
This giant number funds items from tuition to maintenance and much more. Members of the community who have children enrolled in New Trier, however, have to pay a bit more.
Specifically, they pay a student fee which is meant to cover some course expenses, extracurricular activities, and miscellaneous items needed for advisery, graduation, etc.
Next year, a new fee structure will be implemented. While the current fee structure brings in about $758,381, the new structure will add $40,000 to this revenue.
The new fee is broken down into two parts, general and extracurricular. The general section specifically covers school IDs, the towel service in the locker rooms, class materials, technology, school testing and college transcripts. The general fee is $110.
The extracurricular section covers admission to preforming arts and athletic events, participation in clubs, and supplies for athletics, performing arts, and clubs. The extracurricular fee is $80, bringing the grand total for all students to $190 regardless of involvement in extracurricular activities. There are, however, additional fees for specific courses and purchasable items.
Student fees include specific fees for courses such as Marine Biology and Drivers Education, and point-of-sale items such as Trevia, , transportation and student parking.
According to Principal Tim Dohrer, the idea behind the change was to “change how fees are communicated to parents.” This new fee structure will explain clearly where fees come from and what they contribute too.
In the past, there were incidents where students signed up to purchase the yearbook during the year, and surprised their parents with an unwelcome 50 dollar additional fee.
“[The fee structure] needed philosophical consistency and needed to be clearer for parents to understand,” said Dohrer. The bill also creates more equity in the way parents are charged.
Before, students in preforming arts and rowing were not charged the same extracurricular fee that students in sports such as Track and Field were charged.
Associate Superintendent Donald Goers was an important figure in the development of the new fee structure. “We have been discussing fees for nearly four years, and in the process established guidelines [on the fee structure],” said Goers.
There are two key guidelines when addressing the fees. The first is to stay revenue neutral. Goers said, “We do expect families of current students to pay more than the general taxpayer, but we do not intend to increase the total amount paid by families. The goals are to improve equity, fairness, and simplicity for families and the district in the assessment of fees.”
The second guideline was to address specific items regarding fees. These items dealt with individual courses and extracurricular activities.
Dohrer stated that this is primarily a “test run” and that the board and administration will respond after seeing community response to the new fee structure.