The New York City Department of Education backtracked on anew policythat would have charged schools for using their facilities after 6 p.m.  Principals were told of the policy in their weekly newsletter from Chancellor Klein.

"Effective now, schools are not financially responsible for the extended use of school buildings during this school year.... Schools will be accountable for ensuring that all extended use permit requests reflect actual building use in order to maximize efficiencies,"  the letter states.

The DOE decided to rescind the new policy "to monitor data to promote efficiency in the funds expended for extended use permits," said Marge Feinberg, a DOE spokesperson.

In past years, schools were allowed unlimited use of their facilities for school- related events.  Over the summer, principals were told that they would have to pay $400 for each hour of building use beyond the regular instructional day of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.  Each school was allotted a set amount, separate from their regular school budget, to spend on extended day building use for 2010-11.<!--more-->

"The allocation wasn't enough to cover everything."  one principal told Insideschools. "Principals were going to be very reluctant to approve after hour activities because they didn't want to run out of money and then tap into their regular budget."

For some schools, especially large high schools that offer many teams, clubs, and after hours tutoring, the bills would have mounted quickly.  Stuyvesant High School received  $130,000.00 to cover extended day building use in 2010-11.  But at a cost of $2000 a week to keep its building open one extra hour a day -- far less than  typical for large schools  -- Stuyvesant would have plowed through its entire allotment less than halfway through the school year.

Despite the DOE's decision, the City Council’s committees on Education and Youth Services and Public Housing plan to go ahead with a joint hearing on public school building use on Friday.

"It's not clear whether the DOE plans to institute the [extended hour] fees in the future," said Jan Atwell, policy analyst for the Council's Committee on Education. "We still need to ask them how much they're looking to gain from the policy and what's its impact.  Some schools, like La Guardia could be disproportionately impacted."