MARS — Mars Area school board members and officials discussed the usefulness of fees for high school elective courses at a finance meeting Tuesday night.

Business manager Debbie Brandstetter laid out the projected income from the non-refundable fees, which are attached to classes including art, manufacturing technology, graphic design, engineering, digital photography, robotics and creative cuisine.

“It brings in between $16,000 and $20,000 a year. So far this year, at Feb. 8, of the 301 students enrolled in full year or semester classes, only 45% of them have paid their fee until now,” she said. “Forty-nine percent haven’t paid, and 6% is free and reduced. For the second semester students who are just starting now, and there are 190 of those, 39% have paid, and 59% have not paid their fee yet, and 2% are free and reduced.”

The fees usually range between $40 and $60 and typically are paid in the spring, when students register for classes. Students are typically not prevented from taking the class if they do not pay the fee in time, but owe the fees to be paid at a future date.

“What happens is a lot of these students aren’t paying their fee, and it will get added to their obligation, so that if next year they want to get a parking permit, they’ll have to pay that fee before they get their parking permit, or if they don’t drive, then when they go to graduate, it will be in there for them to have to pay,” Brandstetter explained. “It seems like it’s very cumbersome.”

Superintendent Mark Gross said he would be interested in reducing the number of classes that require fees.

“I’m not a big fan of the art type fees. You just don’t know what a student may aspire to be, even though it is an elective,” Gross said. “Depending on what you want to be someday, it may be something you want to take. I’m used to it on the manufacturing end — some of the things they build have a significant cost with lumber. But I would love to see the elimination of (fees for) things other than the tech ed.”

Board members Megan Lenz and Lee Ann Riner raised the question of whether the fees were deterring students from taking the classes or causing unpleasant surprises for parents. Board member Jennifer DiCuccio brought up that while the specific classes are not required, elective requirements do exist for graduation.

“I have a hard time understanding why we would charge for something that is required,” DiCuccio said.

No measures were voted on at the meeting with regard to the fees, but Gross said he would like to address the fees and determine whether the number of courses linked to them will change in a future finance meeting.

Curriculum changes

The board approved the creation of a half-credit semester-long elective debate and discourse class at the 9-12 grade level for the 2022-23 school year.

Board members also approved the addition of College in High School credit for the level-4 world language courses in Spanish, French and German at the high school through La Roche University.

The decision is pending the approval of the German curriculum, while the Spanish and French classes already are approved. Taking the courses for college credit and paying La Roche tuition, amounting to $235 for the course, will not be mandatory if a student is not interested in receiving the credit. The deadline for students to enroll is Nov. 1.

Budget schedule

Board members also laid out the schedule for further 2022 budget discussions.

The next finance meetings will be held March 8 and April 12 at 6 p.m. The board will be presented with the proposed final budget May 3, and the board will adopt the final budget at a meeting June 14.