Culver Schools Moving To Fee Collection Service

Culver Community School CorporationThe Culver School Corporation could soon be employing some collection services.

During last night’s Culver School Board meeting, members reviewed information about textbook rental fees. Culver has not used a collection agency in the past, but officials say they intend to make the switch.

Culver Schools Superintendent Vicki McGuire says tracking down payments has created more work for the staff.

“This collection system that we’re going to will take care of that and track a lot of it,” says McGuire.

By using Statewide collection, the school corporation is effectively privatizing the fee collection process for those who are delinquent on their payments.

It was stated during last night’s meeting that there is a process for collecting overdue fees for textbook rental prior to using alternative methods. Families qualifying for textbook and free and reduced lunch assistance can reduce their risk of being sent to collections by signing up.

McGuire says it’s not terribly expensive for the school corporation to use the collection agency.

“We’re not going to use that all the time,” says McGuire. “It’s not going to be ‘here you go’ we’re going to turn this over. We’re going to work with parents and work with the parents. Keep working with the parents.”

Culver Schools puts the current estimate for unpaid fees at about $10-thousand.

Officials believe that by collecting delinquent fees, it could make a difference in their operations.

No vote was taken on the matter.