The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

More schools rely  on pay-to-play fees

10 of 18 local schools have fees ranging from $20 to $250 per sport.

Barbara J. Perenic/Staff Photo Greenon students pay $100 per sport to play at the high school level.

Mesoraco's slam sends Reds over Braves
7:38 a.m.
Raiders fall in tourney opener
5/25/12
Rough 1st inning sets up Tipp exit
5/25/12
Local Scoreboard for May 25
5/24/12
Ohio State AD says 12 violations minor
5/24/12
> More sports headlines

By Michael Cooper, Staff Writer 9:52 PM Friday, September 16, 2011

SPRINGFIELD — While area athletic departments thrive on gate receipts and assistance from booster clubs, they also add funds to their athletic budgets with pay-to-participate fees.

The News-Sun polled 18 schools in its coverage area and 10 have some type of mandatory extracurricular fees, which can range from $20 to $250 per sport. Every school has a family cap, and no policy exceeds $500 per season.

Triad and West Liberty-Salem charge transportation fees, costing families between $50 to $60 per season. At West Liberty-Salem, the cap is $450 per family.

Six area schools still go without fees, including Kenton Ridge, Northeastern, Southeastern, Shawnee, Mechanicsburg, Urbana and Yellow Springs.

“I think (pay-to-participate) is becoming the norm and not the exception any more,” said Kenton Ridge Athletic Director Kris Spriggs.

Compared to the rest of Southwest Ohio, the Springfield area has reasonable rates when it comes to pay-to-participate.

A survey of the 24 high schools in Butler and Warren counties compiled in June revealed that all but one charge some sort of mandatory extracurricular fee.

Amounts ranged from $30 per sport at Carlisle to $651 at Little Miami.

The Lakota Local school district charges $550 per sport with no family cap, while Springboro charges $475 per sport with a $1,900 family cap.

Last October, the Ohio High School Athletic Association published its fall edition of OHSAA Magazine. The issue included a report on a summer survey regarding use of pay-to-participate fees which found that, from the 363 districts that responded to its survey, 44.9 percent used some form of the fees, ranging from $20 to $660. The average, the OHSAA reported, was $141.75.

“It’s just the sign of the times,” said Springfield Athletic Director Mark Stoll.

Many schools have had pay-to-participate programs in place for several years, while others had had policies in the past, dropped them and then resumed them as the economy began to slide in recent years.

The money made from pay-to-participate fees is used by athletic departments to help offset costs.

“It helps take care of a lot of issues around here that we couldn’t afford,” said Catholic Central Athletic Director Dan Shay. “The facilities we have are older than those at other schools. It definitely helps maintain those facilities.”

Greenon High School installed its pay-to-participate program this season, charging families $100 per sport at the high school and $50 per sport at the middle school. The family maximum is $225.

Greenon treasurer Ryan Jenkins told the News-Sun in June the policy would bring in $50,000 annually to pay for an athletic program that costs $300,000 to run.

Greenon Athletic Director Dave Marshall said the move was made out of necessity.

“It kind of got that way,” Marshall said. “I tried to avoid it as long as possible. It was one of those things for us to stay financially sound.”

Marshall said the cost of pay-to-participate will help the athletic department, and won’t be too big of a burden on families.

“It’s going to help offset costs,” Marshall said. “We won’t be spending like crazy.”

Marshall said the school hasn’t had a decline in its athletic numbers during the fall season.

Tecumseh has the highest pay-to-participate fee at $250 per sport at the high school and $125 at the middle school. The per family maximum is $375.

The district implemented pay-to-participate for the 2004-2005 sports season, then raised the fee a year later.

“It’s cost containment,” said Tecumseh Athletic Director Craig Eier. “There’s a Phase 3, but we’ve never got there. If we do, it’ll destroy our programs.”

Eier said the school is doing its best to cut costs so athletes can stay on the field. This year, the athletic department is paying for transportation, while keeping its participation fee the same.

“Extracurriculars are so important to a students’ well-being and making them a well-rounded person,” Eier said.

Northwestern has the lowest pay-to-participation fee at $20 per sport, which brought the district $10,000 of extra revenue last year.

“You think about $20 and it doesn’t seem like a whole lot,” said Northwestern Athletic Director Jeff Hobby. “But when you think about the total number of kids in seventh through 12th grades, it’s become a big part of our yearly budget. It’s very important to us. We’ve talked about increasing it, but at this time, we don’t feel we need to do it.”

Springfield is one of the few city school districts that has pay-to-participate fees. It charges $100 per sport at the high school and $50 at the middle school with a $150 family cap.

Several schools that don’t have pay-to-participate fees have talked about implementing them to help offset costs.

“It’s been discussed,” Spriggs said. “If our levies didn’t pass, (the district) was going to talk about doing something. We were fortunate enough not to have to do that.”

The schools with pay-to-participate policies use payment plans to help athletes participate.

“If a child wants to play, we’ll find a way to work with them,” Stoll said. “We don’t want to discourage anyone from playing solely based on participation fees.”

Athletic directors understand the strain pay-to-participation fees can put on families, they also feel that participation can provide lessons different from those in the classroom.

Eier pays $375 per year his family, sophomore Jake and seventh-grader Lucy, to participate each season at Tecumseh.

“It’s a no-brainer,” Eier said. “If sports are just a recreational thing for you, it’s probably more difficult to understand. Anyone who has played on select teams or AAU teams understand you drop that amount of money in a few weeks, especially when you start adding up tournaments and hotels.

“For $375, I’m getting a great deal,” Eier continued, “I’m getting a great deal.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0365.

Share this article