Implementation of a series of new student fees in the Lawrence school district will greatly expand accounting headaches for staff, board members said Monday.

Austin Turney and Scott Morgan said the district’s adoption of $850,000 in new or increased academic and athletic fees, and creation of an expanded set of fee payment options, would add to complexity of bookkeeping by secretaries in each of the 25 schools in the district.

“There’s going to be a lot of clerical work,” said Turney, a certified public accountant who worked about 10 years for public school districts.

He said such substantial fee restructuring required the district to maintain good internal control of cash flowing into schools.

Morgan agreed, but added that coordination of fee collections didn’t outweigh the board’s concern for the impact of fees on families.

“We have to accept the administrative headaches to try to make this as flexible as possible,” said Morgan, the board’s president.

The discussion emerged during a presentation by Kathy Johnson, the district’s budget director, about development of fee payment options for parents.

She said payment of fees  except for the new pay-to-ride bus program  can be made with cash, check or credit card to the district. Parents can pay in full at the start of the year or make use of a payment plan. Plan options: by semester (two payments), quarterly (four) or monthly (nine).

There are separate fee-payment forms for elementary, junior high school and high school students. Free State High School’s is different than the Lawrence High School form.

“We’re going to try to come up with one form in the future,” said Tom Christie, the district’s executive director of curriculum.

In other business, the board approved:

l a public hearing on a maximum budget authority for the district of $90.7 million for the 2002-2003 school year. The required hearing is 6:30 p.m. Aug. 12 at district headquarters, 110 McDonald Drive.

l naming the Kennedy School library in honor of the late Rita Lind, an employee of Lawrence schools for 16 years.