Stephen Kleinsmith supports the fee addition.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee joins Care to Learn’s advisory board in St. Louis.
Plans are in the works for Springfield-based Care to Learn to charge an administrative fee for the first time to the 27 school districts it serves across Missouri.
Nonprofit officials met in February with half a dozen school superintendents at Community Foundation of the Ozarks to discuss implementing a fee for improved support. The Springfield-based nonprofit fills health, hunger and hygiene needs for students and also is known for its weekend-backpack program.
Linda Ramey-Greiwe, executive director of Care to Learn since October, said the proposed fee has yet to be set and is still being discussed with school officials.
“In most cases, the fee will be just 25 cents or 50 cents per student and on average last year we spent over $8 per child across our more established chapters,” she said in a statement provided to Springfield Business Journal. “The fee will be used to provide more students with more basic health, hunger and hygiene needs so they can stay in school.”
Shawn Randles, superintendent of the 2,300-student Logan-Rogersville Public Schools, said that price point was not Care to Learn’s original proposal. He declined to disclose what officials previously discussed.
“I had concerns about the initial proposal and was very grateful that they did call in area superintendents to work on an agreeable proposal. I feel much more comfortable with what’s currently on the table,” Randles said.
Nixa Public Schools Superintendent Stephen Kleinsmith said he would support an administrative fee. He also attended the Care to Learn meeting.
With roughly 6,100 students, the maximum proposed annual charge for Nixa chapter coordination would be roughly $3,000 a year.
“We went through the rationale for the fees. We looked at it carefully, and it was easy for me to see this is something we can support,” Kleinsmith said. “I feel like if anybody has proven themselves to be of service to the families and young people of this community, it is the Care to Learn Nixa unit.”
Across the organization’s footprint, which mostly covers southwest Missouri but stretches to St. Charles, Care to Learn serves 99,000 students, according to Ramey-Greiwe. The nonprofit has helped students 675,000 times since it launched in 2008.
That year, Care to Learn founder Doug Pitt was supported by his actor brother Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie through their Jolie-Pitt Foundation and Springfield businessman Jim D. Morris. Operations have since been funded by donors.
