Help! My children's student fees are really adding up!

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 News anchor Taylor Hemness reports on stories across Kansas, including a focus on consumer issues. You can contact Taylor by email.

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It's back-to-school time, which is right up there with the holidays as a very expensive time of year for families with children.

You're already buying supplies, new clothes, shoes and backpacks. But you also likely have a fair amount of school-required fees for your students.

Trust me, I get it. I have three boys.

This year, their total fees are close to $600. So far I've paid some, but not all of them.

Maybe, like me, you've got some questions about how all those fees are calculated. Well, I reached out to the Shawnee Mission School District.

"All of these are board-approved. They get looked at on an annual basis, but there's typically very little variance," said Jake Potter, chief communications officer for SMSD. "This is something that we try to keep as flat as possible, so that year after year, families aren't burdened with this either confusion of, last year I paid this, this year I paid this. Or a sticker shock that there's this huge 10% increase. That's not how we operate. And I would say, for the most part, all Kansas school districts make similar kinds of decisions."

So, I'm going to share with you the fees issued for just my oldest, who's going into his freshman year of high school. I want to point out a couple of specific items.

• Apple repair: $58
• Instructional resources-secondary: $100
• Student ID card: $5
• Participation fee: $75
• Biology 1: $3
• Class of 2030: $2
• Spirit Club: $10
• Student Council: $10
• Yearbook: $62

First, make sure all of LAST year's fees are paid. My son lost the charger for his school-issued laptop, so we were assessed a $58 Apple repair fee.

Next up, the instructional resources fee. Potter tells me this isn't necessarily for the laptops and iPads issued to every student but for the software and licensing fees the school pays for those devices. In Shawnee Mission, it's one rate for secondary students, one for elementary.

Lastly, my son has a $75 participation fee. My son is a student-athlete. But the way Potter described it to me, this fee covers costs incurred by activities outside of normal school hours — practices, travel, etc.

One other note: SMSD charges a $3 convenience fee each time you pay any fee, whether you're just paying one or all of your child's fees. Potter told me that's the arrangement the district has with credit card companies. The fewer payments you make, the fewer times you'll have to pay that extra fee.

What do you do if you have questions, want to better understand where your money is going, or need help paying those fees? Here's what Potter told me.

"Our business office contact is located on our website, smsd.org. If you didn't want to do it at the district level, you could certainly talk to the building secretary at your individual building and just be transparent," Potter said. "Communicate what your challenges are overall. And not just at the district, but at the state level.

"There's an opportunity to apply for free and reduced status. Those are guidelines that are set nationally. Basically, if your family is making less than $50,000, and I'm speaking in general terms, that would qualify for free application, and all of those fees would be waived."

Potter also stressed that your child won't be kept from going to school just because there are outstanding fees. Work with your campus and the district overall to come to a solution.

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