Unionville and Pay-to-Play

The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA


District mulls 'pay for play'

New, higher fees coming

Saturday, November 6, 2010
By Fran Maye, Staff Writer

Students in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District who choose to play sports will likely pay more next school year — perhaps a lot more.

District officials looking for additional sources of revenue in a stale economy and with limited power to raise taxes are turning to "pay to play," a concept adopted by many other school districts.

"This is all new ground," said John Sanville, director of secondary education in the district. "This is a phenomenon nationwide. Pretty much every district in Chester County is now investigating some type of fee."

A recent Pennsylvania School Boards Association survey of 179 schools shows 22 public schools and seven private schools charging sports fees.

Unionville has the authority to require students to fund 100 percent of the cost of their activity. And like other districts, Unionville is grappling with the recession, cash-strapped taxpayers, and escalating health care and pension cots while funding extracurricular activities that many say are fundamental in public schools.

Currently, sports and other activities cost the district about $900,000 per year, and the district recoups less than 10 percent (about $85,000) of that through admission fees, a per-student sports activity fee of $25 and other sources.

The activity fee will be higher beginning in the 2011-12 school year, but just how much higher has been the topic of focus groups meetings held last week to help district officials learn how the community feels about pay to play.

"We need to come to a fair fee that will not limit participation," Sanville said.

School board members plan to vote on a pay-to-play fee at their Jan. 18 meeting. And one change is certain: the fee won't be the same for all sports.

For example, football costs the district more than $1,000 per student, yet the cost to the district for baseball is $328 per student.

"One thing that came out (of the focus group meetings) is that different clubs should pay different amounts," Sanville said. "It shouldn't be the same for everyone.

"We have service clubs that provide a service to the community. It doesn't seem fair that we charge a service club when they are giving back and even saving the district money. An across-the-board, one-size-fits-all is not appropriate."

Sanville said coming up with a fair fee for all activities will be challenging.

"Band and music parents are paying a lot of money already," he said. "Cheerleading parents are paying a lot of money already. What's fair? Do we charge them another fee? We need to get an understanding of the real cost of participation. Boosters are collecting a lot of money and supporting our program, so how do we measure that?"

And then there's the question of low-income families in the district. Sanville said these families will be getting a break.

"For low-income, for at-risk, for needy families, we need some type of policy as to how we identify and support them," Sanville said. "Whatever fee structure we put together, it will include ways to address our families that are socio-economic, in-need families. We don't want to close the door on kids because of financial reasons."

District officials met with 15 different focus groups that included parents, non-parents, coaches, high school advisers and others. One common demand among all groups was that activities and athletic programs at Unionville should not be cut.

Another common theme among groups was there was a willingness to pay an increased fee, but how much more was open to debate.

The next step for the district is to perform a survey that will help determine what the "break point" is.

"We need to know what's the dollar amount when people say: No, I'm not going to participate if it costs that much," Sanville said.

A public presentation on pay to play is slated for the Nov. 15 board meeting. On Dec. 2, draft recommendations will be made. A committee meeting on Jan. 3 will address the recommendations, and the full board plans to debate final recommendations on Jan. 18 and make a decision.

Meanwhile, the district is encouraging people to e-mail thoughts on the matter to fees@ucfsd.org.

"These are tough times for everyone," Sanville said.