Refund decision on hold

By MARK NEWMAN Courier staff writer

Thu, May 22 2008

— BLOOMFIELD — Former Davis County students must wait to find out if their families will get back money they paid on college-credit high school courses.
“The board said they want a little more time to study the issue and consider options,” Superintendent Sam Miller said Tuesday. “No decisions have been made at this time.”
Miller said a special meeting held Monday by the Davis County School Board wound up being mostly about the “history” of the dual-credit program, and “about how we got to this point.”
For eight years, Davis County High School students have been allowed to take courses that gave them both high school credits and credits for college.
When used for high school credit, there was no charge. But when used as college credit, the district charged tuition; administrators believed they were allowed to charge a fee because of their interpretation of a letter from the Iowa Department of Education.
Elaine Watkins-Miller, spokesperson for the DOE, said that’s not the case.
She said that on May 1, the Iowa Department of Education sent a letter to all Iowa school districts stating “ ... in no event may a district charge tuition for a dual credit course.”
Watkins-Miller explained that’s because the state already provides funding for the program. The district gets extra money for every student enrolled in a college credit course at the high school. Typically, the funding does not equal the cost of the “sharing” agreement with a college.
Miller did say a decision has already been made about students who paid for this school year. They will get a refund.
The board must now look at other issues: not just about the potential to refund tuition fees from past years, but also, what they are going to do next year. Miller added the district did not consult with an attorney during their special session Monday.
“They’ve asked me to put some information together for them,” he said.
No deadline has been set for a vote, but Miller said the school board is not ignoring the issue.
He added the board taking some time to digest information in important cases is consistent with how they operate.
“These are big decisions; there’s lots of pieces here,” Miller said.
Mark Newman can be reached at 683-5358 or by e-mail at mgnewman@mchsi.com.