School bank fee investigation

A local school district spent more than $100,000

Produced for WPTV NewsChannel 5

West Palm Beach, Fla. - The Palm Beach County School District cut millions of dollars and hundreds of positions last year alone.

But while those cuts were taking place, the Contact 5 Investigators discovered banks charged the district tens of thousands of dollars in fees which could have been waived.

For example, many schools paid up to 25 cents every time a principal made a deposit at a certain bank. Plus, six cents every time they wrote a check.

"I didn't realize they paid that much in bank fees, I pay no bank fees, so I don't understand that," said parent Michelle Williams.

It might not sound like a lot but the charges are adding up.

Records show Park Vista High School racked up more than $9,000 dollars in bank charges and merchant fees last year alone.

Another $4,200 was spent at West Boca High School, plus more than $3,300 at Binks Forest Elementary in Wellington.

To see how much each school in the County spent, click here.

"That is just ridiculous," said Levine. "It's extremely disappointing," he said.

It's money that could be spent somewhere else.

"Every time you go to meetings at school it's the same, they need supplies, they need anything," said Binks Forest Elementary Parent Valerie Walton.

If you think it's common for school districts in South Florida to pay these charges, think again.

"Our schools do not have maintenance or monthly fees," said Cathy Brennan, the Public Information Officer for Martin County School District.

Districts from Martin to St. Lucie don't pay a dime.

"I think that would be out of my budget," said Janice Karst with St. Lucie County Schools.

The other districts worked with the banks to negotiate a good deal.

"Every dollar counts and they really try to work with the schools in order to provide that service without costing the schools money," said Brennan.

Palm Beach County spent more than $275,000 over the past two years.

"First, I'd probably say it's because we're larger than some of the counties around us," said Palm Beach County's Chief Financial Officer Mike Burke.

Just south of Palm Beach in Broward County, ninety percent of their schools use the same bank and don't pay any fees. They're a bigger district.

Palm Beach County's Chief Financial Officer said unlike most of the other counties, about 44% of their charges are credit card fees, for allowing parents to buy things online.

"Every time you do a credit card processing transaction, there's a small fee and there's really no getting around that fee," said Burke.

But he said the bank fees are a cost they can no longer afford.

The district has negotiated with most of their banks to eliminate all fees for the past five months and it's changing the way it does business in the future.

"We really need to take a hard look at who we're banking with and also if there's a way to structure it so we can avoid fees at the individual school level, than we ought to do that," said Burke.

"If the school district can do its own due diligence and save money where they can, it's going to be better for everyone," said Levine.

The district is in the process of looking for one new bank that all of the schools can do business with, a bank that provides zero fees.

They plan to have those changes in place by next school year.

Up until now, each school could choose its own bank. The district's CFO said many school principals have been resistant to change because they've had individual bank partnerships for decades.

"For the last couple of years though, interest rates are way down, bank fees are still there and it's starting to eat into the schools' principal," said Burke.