No Test Prep Fees For Some York Students

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst School District 205 is working with a private company to provide SAT exam preparation.

The 18-hour virtual course for York High School comes with a fee of $300 per junior. The district's contract is with Kaplan.

The district plans to cover the fees of three groups of students:

• Low-income (those who receive free or reduced-price lunches)
• Special needs (those who have individualized educational programs, or IEPs)
• English learners (those with other native languages)

Those three groups total 165 students, or about a quarter of York's 713-student class of 2024.

Much of the money for the free exams is coming from federal grants, which likely won't be available in later years.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, member Courtenae Trautmann said she liked how the district found a way to provide free test preparation to the three groups.

"This is such a great opportunity for kids," she said. "I want to encourage a strong recruitment of those groups – IEPs, low-income and English learners."

School officials said they could provide reports later on the number of participating students and the results.

The board voted unanimously to pay for the three groups' fees. Members Chris Kocinski and Beth Hosler were absent.