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The school system's plan to scale back the number of classroom fees is garnering mixed reviews from some parents and school leaders. 

Last week, school system officials unveiled a plan to cut the number of course-related fees that schools are allowed to charge. Under the plan, schools no longer can charge students for science lab supplies, workbooks used for instruction or towels for gym class.

However, a school still can charge a fee in a class where students will consume a product they make, like in a food trends course, for example. Fees also can be charged in art courses where the students' end products will be taken home — like in a ceramics class — or in auto technology classes, where the students' uniforms become their personal property.

The plan would take effect next school year.

Larry A. Bowers, the school system's chief operating officer, acknowledged that the plan is a work in progress and said that school leaders might tweak the regulation, if necessary.

"We think we've established a very clear guideline for the schools," Bowers said. "There is a process in place to ensure that no student will be excluded from class if they cannot afford it."

Students who can't afford the course-related fees can have their parents fill out a waiver. However, the school system has no process of verifying who can, and who can't, afford the fees, Bowers said.

Still, some parents and school board members approved of the plan, but said a lot of questions remain.

"I'm glad that we looked at it, but I'm concerned about what it's going to do to the richness of the curriculum," said school board member Judith R. Docca (Dist. 1) of Montgomery Village, a former middle school and high school principal.

Affluent schools could handle the loss of some course-related fees, while schools in poorer communities might struggle to cover the costs associated with classes, Docca said.

The school board needs to make sure the course-related fees do not discourage students from taking classes, said student school board member Quratul-Ann Malik.

"This is a really complex issue, so I'm sure there will be a lot of discussion on it," Malik said. "It's a great start, but there's a lot of work still to be done."

Fee consistency

In August, a group of parents criticized the school system's previous fees regulation, partially because of its inconsistency.

For example, Clarksburg High School is approved to charge 220 fees this school year, while John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring is approved for 16 fees, according to public school documents.

Also according to the documents, some schools would charge more in fees than others for the same course. Northwood High School in Silver Spring, for example, charges students a $20 lab fee for a photography class, while in the same class at Rockville High School, administrators charge a $25 fee for film, the documents show.

Members of the county's Parents Coalition group also said the school system acted illegally by charging any curricular fees. In its press for action, the group lobbied the school board, County Council, state lawmakers and the Maryland State Department of Education to resolve the issue.

Del. Kumar P. Barve, House majority leader, said he plans to file a bill making it illegal for any of the state's 24 school systems to charge a curricular fee. In October, the Howard County school system suspended the charging of its fees to review the policy.

"It shows promise in the elimination of the stated fees," said Janis Sartucci, a member of the parent advocacy group. But under the new plan, she said, "there is no supervision of what's going on at the local schools."

The new plan cuts back the number of fees a school can charge, but does not make the fees uniform at all schools.

School system officials "didn't think it was appropriate to tell a school what they had to charge," Bowers said, adding that there is a limit on how much schools can charge.

"If you're going to charge a fee, it has to be consistent," Sartucci said.

Others, such as school board Vice President Patricia B. O'Neill (Dist. 3) of Bethesda, believe the school system struck the right formula with its new plan.

"I think it seems fair, balanced and legal," she said. "I think that there will be people that are unhappy either way. A great deal of thought went into this revision, and I think unintended consequences will crop up as we move forward with this recommendation."

Under the system's updated plan, officials would give $1.53 million to all elementary, middle and high schools to help them cover a fee that otherwise might have been assessed. That money, according to system officials, would be transferred from accounts used to purchase textbooks and other items for the schools.

The school board has to approve the transfer request. It will hold back-to-back work sessions on the proposed fiscal 2010 operating budget Jan. 28 and 29.

If approved by the board, elementary schools would get an increase of $258,495 for fees, middle schools would get an additional $299,950 and high schools would get an extra $981,244.

Kay Romero, president of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, said she has concerns about how the money will be tracked in individual schools.

The collected fees go into the schools' independent activity fund, which helps pay for items such as band uniforms and field trips.

"We all have a vested interest in what is working and not working when it comes to school spending," Romero wrote in an e-mail. "Parents and taxpayers have reached their limits on sloppy record keeping at some schools."

In October, for example, an internal audit of Richard Montgomery High School found that some administrators spent $9,372 of the school's independent activity fund on meals and jackets, among other items. In 2007, an audit into bookkeeping practices at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac revealed a $250,000 deficiency in student activity funds.

School board member Christopher S. Barclay, who chairs the board's Fiscal Management Committee, has said the panel would scrutinize the way money is spent at schools.