Good news for students just as they return to classes this fall.

The Foothills School Division has been able to reduce school fees by $648,000 across the division as part of the Province will pick up the tab on $54 million in school fees.

Superintendent John Bailey says it is a lot of money so families will see some dollars stay in their pockets.

"Families will absolutely see a reduction in fees," said Bailey. "We don't charge the same level of fees that some other districts charge. For example our busing fee for school of choice busing is only a couple of hundred dollars a year."

The division has all the information about the fees on their website with links to each school.

Children who enroll in extracurricular activities will still have to pay fees for those, like sports, bands and art classes.

"We are trying to be as open and as transparent as we can."

And if the fees are too expensive there are some options for families.

"If families have to go on a payment plan we absolutely can do that. We also have a provision if there are financial difficulties and the families need to have those fees waived or a portion of it waived there is a mechanism for doing that as well," Bailey said.

School boards will receive funding from the province to offset the loss of fee revenues.

Parents will no longer pay fees for textbooks, workbooks, photocopying, printing or paper.

As well all remaining fees must meet several criteria, including being clearly expressed in a board’s fee schedule, as well as being connected to a specific good or service. This means that common or generic fees—often previously referred to, among other titles, as instructional fees, instructional materials, or basic fees—can no longer be charged.

 

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