Unionville Activity Fee Changes from Daily Local News

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School officials poised for activity fee changes

Administration proposing multi-level fee schedule

Sunday, January 2, 2011

By WM. SHAWN WEIGEL, Staff Writer

EAST MARLBOROUGH — Based on administrative recommendations, activity fees in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District may increase in the coming school year.

The district's director of secondary communication, John Sanville, said that after months of polling and researching, the focus group established to explore activity fees is ready to make a recommendation.

Based on a preliminary report presented to the finance committee on Dec. 3, the administration is proposing a four-tiered fee schedule for sports and student activities starting in 2011-12.

The four pricing levels — $10, $25, $50 and $75 — cover a variety of activities from cross country running to math and other academic clubs, to more high profile sports like football and basketball.

The new fees are expected to bring in an additional $50,000 in income annually, Sanville said, bringing the total yearly income to $133,000.

"We are, quite honestly, in a position where any additional revenue is a big deal, even if it's $50,000," Sanville said, adding that the income is equivalent to a .06 teacher's salary.

Sanville said that during the research process, the committee did not want any fee to be 20 percent or more of the total cost of the activity, and that all of the increases represent at the most 19 percent of the total activity. He added that in most cases, it is far less than that.

As an example, football fees would increase from $25 to $75 — a 200 percent increase over the current fees, but at 9 percent of the total cost, it's still under the 20 percent mark of the entire activity cost.

Sanville could not provide a complete list of how individual fee structures would change, bit did say that the most expensive sports in the district are football, wrestling, and both boys and girls basketball and volleyball.

According to Sanville, the district Web site included a page on participation fees in October that has to date received over 600 hits. The site includes access a literature review, cost spreadsheet, power points of previous presentations, links to provide input including e-mail and survey options.

The committee also conducted 13 separate focus groups with 10 distinct stakeholder groups that included middle and high school students involved in activities and athletics, parents, non-parent taxpayers and various advisers.

They also hosted an online survey that received over 160 responses in a month's time.

In drawing a comparison between U-CFSD and other area school districts with activity fees, the committee discovered a number of districts that do not charge additional fees.

According to the report, the Coatesville, Phoenixville, Owen J. Roberts and Kennett Consolidated school districts currently have no additional activity fees, while Great Valley, Tredyffrin/Easttown and West Chester all have no fee but are considering one.

The Avon Grove School District charges a $25 one-time annual fee for participation in activities and athletics, while Downingtown charges $25 per sport. The Oxford Area School District charges $50 per sport at the high school, with $50 for individuals and $75 for family, with a $35 per sport fee at the middle school. Octorara School District once had a three-tiered system but now charges a flat $50 per sport.

The communications committee will hear the fee committee's final recommendations at the Jan. 3 meeting, with no actual vote expected.

"This will be the assumption from a budget building perspective," Sanville said. "When we build our budget we'll assume we get to take in $133,000 instead of $87,000."