School fees audit finds 'widespread violations' of Utah law by school boards


Save Story

Show 1 more video

Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — A new legislative audit found "widespread violations of state law" by the State School Board and local boards of education, high schools and charter schools in their handling of secondary school fees.

"These violations involve transparency issues, inequitable access to school-sponsored activities and events and an absence of control and oversight of fees by both state and local education leaders," according to the "Performance Audit of Secondary School Fees."

The audit, which was made public Tuesday, found many schools that assessed fees on students who qualified for fee waivers — a practice that conflicts with a 1994 state court ruling that said "requiring waiver-eligible students to pay to participate in school-sponsored classes or activities violates the students’ constitutional right to access an open system of public education."

Noting "widespread noncompliance," auditors wrote that "penalties for noncompliance must be a real and active part of the school fees system."

A 1994 court ruling in Doe v. the Utah State Board of Education, the court ordered the State School Board to withhold Minimum School Program funding from noncompliant districts or schools.

"We found no evidence that USBE has ever done this despite clear violations," the audit states.

The audit, to be presented to legislative leaders Tuesday, noted, "Despite legal protections requiring fees be waived for students who qualify, we found schools that presented certain fees to parents as nonwaivable."

The audit includes excerpts of documents given to students and parents in team, club and class information settings.

One says fee waivers for cheerleading applied only to a $55 cheer participant fee and $10 for transportation. Otherwise, "out-of-pocket payments to cheer will be made in $231 increments during the months of May-August," the document said.

Another notes a $225 "performance production fee," but it was $150 for students who qualify for reduced price school lunch and $100 for those who meet federal guidelines for free school lunch.

"Documents like these can mislead parents of students who qualify for fee waivers, and fees may go unchallenged because parents do not fully understand the law," the audit says.


Documents like these can mislead parents of students who qualify for fee waivers, and fees may go unchallenged because parents do not fully understand the law.

–Audit


The performance production fee "is particularly troubling because that (school) charges a separate, discounted fee for students who qualify for free lunch, one of the qualifying criteria for a fee waiver," according to the audit.

Auditors sampled 20 secondary schools from 13 school districts and seven charter schools.

In eight of those schools, auditors found instances of fees that should have been waived for eligible students that were not.

"The fees that were not waived were typically for school-sponsored extracurricular activities and included some activities for which students received associated class credit," the audit states.

Fee waiver eligibility is based on income. If a household qualifies, fees can be waived for school registration, textbooks, textbook and equipment deposits, school supplies, activity cards, extracurricular activities and school lockers; lab and shop fees; gym and towel fees; costs for uniforms and accessories; field trips and assembly fees; costs for class or team trips; and costs of musical instruments used in school classes or activities, according to the State School Board's website.

Although the audit acknowledges recent steps taken by the Utah State Board of Education to identify and correct problems — including forming a task force and taking steps to modify administrative rule — it took issue with its 2018 internal audit of school fees.

The State Board of Education audit found that traditional and charter schools reportedly collected an estimated $71 million in secondary school fees in 2017.

"Based on their audit findings, USBE auditors questioned whether that amount is materially understated," the legislative audit states.

The audit also raises concerns about school fundraising, which it says is "closely tied to school fees and largely unregulated."

It called on the Utah State Board of Education to audit fundraising practices to determine the impact of secondary-school fundraisers on students, families and communities and whether fee and fundraising revenue are properly handled.

"We are concerned with the lack of legal clarity regarding fundraising," the audit says.

When schools plan to cover known program costs with fundraising, it "places pressure on students to generate needed revenue. This is especially concerning considering that … students have likely already paid fees beyond what the local board approved," the audit states.

In one unidentified high school reviewed by auditors, some students in the ballroom dance program paid from $690 to $1,140 in fees then fundraised from $180 to $940 beyond that.

Students on a drill team paid approximately $1,900 in fees and fundraised an average of nearly $700.

According to documents provided to parents, each player on the boys’ basketball team was expected to “plan on being responsible for fundraising $1,500 through selling ads."

One school reviewed by auditors allowed a parent booster club to take the lead in procuring travel services to be paid with school fee and fundraiser revenue.

"This resulted in more than $30,000 of school funds being used to settle an overcharge from a travel agent. Should booster clubs and other outside groups be explicitly limited in their ability to make purchasing decisions?" the audit asks.

Most recent Education stories

Related topics

EducationUtahFamily
Marjorie Cortez

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast