FEES to use Orange City Library to tutor students are too high, according to one tutor.
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Maths tutor Linda Dawson addressed Orange City Council at Tuesday’s extraordinary meeting for the 2017-18 budget.
She said she used the library 20 hours a week at a cost of $5 a student, due to child protection laws requiring tutors to use public areas.
She estimated it cost her $4000 a year, which she absorbed out of her salary to keep costs affordable for parents.
“There is no way I’d use this amount of air conditioning, heating, a chair, a table, internet, electricity and tissues per year,” she said.
“The tutoring fee is way too expensive.”
Ms Dawson said other tutors had been avoiding the fees by not signing in, but changes had been made as of Tuesday, where tutors scanned their library cards and were given a sign indicating they had paid.
However, she still believed a one-off annual fee would be better.
“That would save all the paperwork and all the hassles,” she said.
Councillor Reg Kidd asked for the west or east rooms at the library to be set aside for tutors when the library was busy.
“It’s very disruptive to the tutor and the person being tutored,” he said.
Councillor Kevin Duffy asked why Orange could not offer free tutoring like Bathurst and mayor John Davis believed the cost of the paperwork might be higher than the return.
Community services director Scott Maunder said it was a challenge because most tutors were businesses and affected library operations.
A report will be brought back to next week’s meeting.