Students living outside of Sampson County, but attending school in one of four educational districts, may see their parents reaching deeper into their wallets to ensure they attend the school of their choice.

That’s if the Sampson County Board of Education votes to increase the fees currently charged for those students who live outside of the county but attend school within it.

During Monday’s school board meeting, members are expected to vote on Policy 4135 (Tuition for Discretionary Admissions), a policy that will charge students who are living out of the county, but attending school inside of it.

If approved, out-of-county students, who now pay a $150 fee, could see charges escalate to attend Sampson County Schools as early as the next school year.

The issue first came up at a board committee meeting in early February, but was not put on the agenda a few weeks later. However, at the meetings, committee members were in favor of charging the out-of-county students, currently numbered at around 80. A good majority of those students are enrolled in the Midway district.

Before taking it to the full Board of Education, committee members had to figure out how to handle the possible consequences of charging the standard ADM fee of $793 per student to those out-of-county pupils.

“If all 80 decided not to come (and pay), that would mean we would lose four teachers from DPI (Department of Public Instruction), and we could lose funding at the state level as well,” Sampson County Schools superintendent Dr. Ethan Lenker told members. “In most cases, it won’t be a problem because it only effects two or three kids, except in the Midway area, where the bulk of those kids come in from, but we do need to keep that in mind.”

The second sticky issue dealt with was the time-frame a student would have to pay the tuition fee.

“I think it should be at least a year,” suggested board chairman Glenn Tart. “You don’t want those kids who are juniors to have to up and leave in their senior year and have to go somewhere else because of this.”

Keeping with Tart’s suggestion (and two others), committee members discussed the topic again Thursday.

“I think it should definitely be a year grace period,” said Auxiliary Services/Finance Committee member Telfair Simpson. “That would be the simplest one to do.”

“We had an advisory meeting at Midway Middle last (Tuesday) night,” said Auxiliary Services/Finance Committee chairman G.H. Wilson. “We didn’t have a lot of discussion about this issue, but the general consensus was that that they felt like we needed to just act on it. I had a lady call me the other day (whose granddaughter was an out-of-the-county student) and I told her we were discussing it, and she said that she would pay ... but I told her that wasn’t the only problem, we needed to discuss the bigger issue of the space restrictions ... but to be honest with you, I would like to move forward with this.”

“It is a bigger problem in the northern end of our county, than some of the other areas,” said Lenker. “We have to make sure that the space is available there and that there is a year grace period. We just give the one year and that will cover everyone in one swoop.”

“It will make it easier for everyone,” added Tart.

In essence, the county school system does not recoup money for out-of-county students from Sampson coffers. The per pupil expenditure used to fund current expense for the system is based on in-county students. The $150 fee doesn’t compensate for the services provided, but the $793 would bring out-of-county pupils in line with what in-county students receive in terms of dollars.

The item will be on the agenda at Monday’s monthly meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Sampson Community College auditorium.

To reach Doug Clark call (910) 592-8137 ext. 139 or send email to sisports@myclintonnc.com.