As School Year Approaches, So Do School Fees

Parent packets from the Wauwatosa Public Schools are arriving by mail this week at homes throughout the city, and beyond, for Open Enrollment families.

Amid the wealth of information about the coming school year is a notice of school fees coming due for the 2013-2014 matriculation, as classes start Sept. 3.

This is that small part of school costs not borne by a portion of property taxes levied on all in Wauwatosa, businesses included, regardless of whether they have children in public schools. Only school families pay these fees, mostly for things like wear and tear on textbooks and other short-lived items the schools provide for student use.

For Wauwatosa school parents, student fees are set across the board at three levels: The basic student fee for registering your brand-new junior kindergartener is $35. For your elementary student, it's $55. For your middle or high school scholar, it's $80.

That isn't the end of the story, however, for Tosa school parents. The basic fee is no substitute for back-to-school shopping for mandatory school supplies or for the many special fees for certain classes and for extracurriculars such a sports.

For instance, high school students will pay another $50 for each sport in which they participate – which can add up if your child or children are multi-sport athletes.

Some fees are specific to certain schools. At Wauwatosa West High, students who drive can pay $20 a year for the privilege to park in one of its expansive parking lots.

At East High, no such fee or opportunity to assess one exists, as there is hardly enough parking for staff, much less students.

High school art students will pay an additional fee for in-class supplies; e.g., $20 per student at West High, except for Art Foundations, which is $10 per semester, and AP Art History, which has no fee.

Band and orchestra students may have extra fees as well as instrument rental costs if the school cannot provide one. Some science classes require extra supplies to be purchased above and beyond the basic supply list.

The total any family might pay depends on the number of children you have and the breadth of their youthful interests: A large family on a tight budget could be looking at hefty school bills if those kids want to be artful, musical and athletic as well as academic.

Costs definitely can rise as your children rise through the grades, and keeping track of their interests – and whether they are genuine passions or passing interests – can help determine what the real costs of schooling will be.

Student fees are for the most part not posted on the School District website or individual school web pages.

Nothing pays off like the money you spend on your child's education, but it also pays to look closely at your school packet and your children's course and extracurricular selections to learn what your budget is going to bear.

Registration and fee dates are set differently for every school, they are posted only on each school's individual web page, and all are scheduled in August before the start of classes. Wauwatosa Patch has compiled a handy one-stop story with every school's important pre-opening times and dates.