Pinckneyville Dist. 50 Waives Out of District Beginning Band Fee

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ The Pinckneyville District 50 Board of Education voted to waive the $150 fee for out-of-district Beginning Band students in the 2009-2010 school year. The fee was $144 for the 2008-09 school year.

Out-of-district students are those from St. Bruno who do not live within District 50 boundaries and those who live in the 204 school district.

The tuition for Regular Band will increase from $217 last year to $338 in the coming school year. The board moved last year to charge out-of-district students tuition for band. The cost was determined by pro-rating the per capita tuition as determined by the state. The cost was about $6,600 per student. A formula was used to determine what portion of that cost was for band instruction.

"It was about seven percent," Superintendent Tim O'Leary said.

The board opted to ease into full tuition payments, charging 50 percent last year, 75 percent in the coming school year and the full 100 percent in the 2010-2011 school year.

The board also voted to purchase new band uniforms for next year. The low bidder was Demoulin of Greenville, Ill. at a cost of $24,522 for 130 uniforms. The Band Parent Organization donated $2,800 towards the cost, the proceeds from their chicken and dumpling dinner.