Tuition for out-of-state students to rise

DALTON, Ga. -- City school board members agreed Monday night to increase tuition for out-of-district students, but the new fees won't be as high as some they had discussed.

Under one proposed formula, the fee would have increased to about $1,400 -- roughly the amount from residential property taxes it costs to educate one child for one year. It costs about $9,000 total each year per child. The rest comes from the state and local business taxes, said Vice Chairman Mark Orr.

Board members decided instead to stick with current policy which bases tuition on what an average Dalton taxpayer would pay in local school taxes for a residence within the district, according to school policy.

"We all seem to want to increase (tuition), but want to bare in mind the touch economic times," said School Board Chairman Steve Williams. "We don't want to keep kids out because of their difficulties in meeting tuition requirements."

Tuition will still rise in 2011 to $1,000 because property taxes have increased since the school board last examined its tuition policy around 2005, Mr. Orr said.

"We hadn't looked at it in several years," Mr. Orr said. "We need to make it more equitable to what the city taxpayers are paying."

School Superintendent Jim Hawkins said school officials decided to review tuition fees for a number of reasons. He said some city taxpayers questioned why out-of-district students weren't paying as much.

Mr. Williams said they wanted to make tuition fees more reflective "of the quality of education that is provided by this system."

Mitch Land is a Varnell resident who pays tuition for two students now and plans to enroll two more children in the future. He said he wanted tuition to stay the same because of the economy and because revenues from tuition are a small portion of the school system's annual budget of about $60 million.

School board members said they plan to revisit tuition fees next year.