Districts Alter Course on Fees for Athletic Transportation : High schools: Simi Valley board to offer more than $50,000 in refunds after rescinding its policy for extracurricular activities; Moorpark scraps its plans for such a charge.

The Simi Valley Unified School District will offer refunds totaling more than $50,000 to families after the school board acknowledged that the district has illegally been charging transportation fees for extracurricular activities, including athletics.

The school board will rescind the transportation fee at its next scheduled meeting on Tuesday, according to Judy Barry, the school board president. Families were charged $85 per child for students who participated in activities such as band, cheerleading and athletics, all of which require transportation on district buses.

The district raised nearly $90,000 in transportation fees last school year, $47,247 from Simi Valley High and $42,081 from Royal. The district already has received more than $50,000 this school year, including $29,750 from Simi Valley. Exact figures for Royal were unavailable.

The Simi Valley district instituted the fee to offset rising costs in September, 1982, at a time when state law did not prohibit a transportation fee for extracurricular activities. However, the California Supreme Court ruled those fees unconstitutional in 1984, stating that they violated the concept of freedom of education guaranteed by the state constitution.

Currently, school districts are allowed to charge transportation fees from home to school, but that law has been challenged and is pending before the California Supreme Court.

The Simi Valley district moved to rescind the fees after receiving a letter last month from Joanne Lowe, the deputy general counsel for the State Department of Education. Lowe had learned of the fees after reading a newspaper account of attempts by the Moorpark Unified School District to institute a similar fee. The story also made reference to the Simi Valley district’s fees. Lowe informed both districts that the fees are illegal.

Moorpark scrapped its plans for a transportation fee, but the Conejo Valley and Las Virgenes districts continue to charge transportation fees. In the Las Virgenes Unified School District, which includes Agoura and Calabasas high schools, students are charged on a sliding scale based on the activities in which they participate.

Leo Lowe, assistant superintendent of the Las Virgenes district, said the district has not violated the law because the fees are called donations. Although the district receives complaints, nearly everyone has paid the fees over the past five years, Lowe said.

“A significant percentage of people contribute,” he said. “I haven’t seen the exact legislation, but if we were not in compliance, we would have been notified.”

The state has not notified the district of any violations, Leo Lowe said.

The Conejo Valley Unified School District, which includes Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and Westlake highs, charges a fee on a sliding scale that starts at $73.50 per student. Dick Newman, president of the Conejo Valley school board, said his district also has not been informed of violations.

Barry, the Simi Valley board president, regretted the loss of the fees and said the district acted in good faith in an attempt to continue to provide extracurricular activities.

“We were really disappointed to find out about the law,” she said. “The district was not trying to pull something. A number of surrounding districts have been doing the same thing in good faith.”

Barry fears that the loss of revenue will force the district to cut programs.

“The money isn’t there for transportation,” she said. “We may have to cut back programs, which I don’t want to do. I feel very strongly that some kids stay in school because they have extracurricular activities to look forward to.”

Joanne Lowe of the State Department of Education has advised parents who have complained about the fees that they have the option to offer the fees as a donation to the district. Those donations are tax-deductible, she said.

Lowe also said it was unclear what claim to refunds parents who paid transportation fees in the past will have. She suggested that they list the money as a donation.

At least one parent in the district will follow that suggestion: Barry. The school board president has paid fees for four children who have graduated from Royal.

“I would hope that parents would see the situation we’re in and donate the money,” she said. “We’d be dreaming to think that everyone will. But I’d hate to see the booster clubs have to raise the money because they have to do so much as it is.”