On Dec 9^th, the ACLU settled a law suit against the state of California claiming “pay-to-learn” policies of charging student fees are inconsistent with the US Constitution and the State of California Constitution which both promise a free public education.  The settlement has been interpreted to address both curricular and extra-curricular fees.   The agreement to end "pay to learn" still needs court approval and state legislation before it goes into effect.  Similar concerns are alive in other states.  In a related 2006 case, the Indiana Supreme Court struck down a school district's $20 activity fee as a violation of that state’s constitutional free school guarantee.

Reading In The News, activity fees and pay-to-play are common strategies for raising money for extra-curricular activities.  Most schools have a provision to forgive the pay-to-play fees for students and athletes for whom the fee is a financial burden and many schools have a maximum fee for multiple sport athletes or families with multiple kids in sports.  In Nasua, NH, eliminating fees would cost $200,000.  In Marion OH, fees for next year sports are being raised to $500 per student, double the fees for the current school year.  In Dover, NH, girl ice hockey players paid $1,450 to play last year.  If these fees go away, how do these programs survive?

School districts in CA are proactively taking action to eliminate sports and activity fees rather than wait for the ACLU to file against them.  Although the original suit named 30 school districts in CA not including the LA School District, that school district recently cancelled a pay-to-play sports fee based on “anecdotal” reports that the ACLU is now looking at them.  In addition, the ACLU has been investigating complaints about improperly charged sports and activity fees such as:

• Pt. Loma High School requires parents to make a $300 "fair share" contribution to cover band expenses

• Clairemont High School requires student athletes to get physical exams from private doctors; Mira Mesa charges $20 for required physicals; and Patrick Henry requests a $25 "donation" for physicals, which are required for certain school sports

• La Jolla High, Pt. Loma High, and Lincoln High require students to purchase ASB cards to be eligible to play in school sports

• Scripps Ranch High charges students playing on its lacrosse team $300 in dues, and requires them to purchase spirit packs for $50; lacrosse players at Serra High must pay dues of $250/year

• Cheer members at Clairemont High must pay a minimum of $1097/year, with extra costs for additional equipment and competition uniforms

• Crawford High cheerleaders have to pay $350/year plus approximately $50 for cheer camp

• Serra High cheerleaders must pay $455-$485 for uniforms, $335 for summer cheer camp, $500 for coaches' donations, plus an additional $395 for optional uniform items

• At Lincoln High and Pt. Loma High, students are required to purchase an ASB card in order to participate in any extracurricular activities.

In a settlement announced by Governor Schwarzenegger on Dec 9, 2010, the Governor said “Every California student has the right to not only a quality public education, but a free public education. Our state has promised that to our students, and I am grateful to the ACLU for bringing the issue of these illegal fees to light,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “I am proud of the settlement we have reached, and assure all California parents and students that the State will do its part to make sure every school district knows it is illegal to charge students fees for attending public schools.”

If all fees for mainstream curricular classes and activities are eliminated, the financial pressure on sports increases as even more money is pulled away from sports to cover that short-fall.  And if activity fees and pay-to-play fees are eliminated, that places additional pressure on booster clubs to raise even more money.

In addition to the ACLU’s intrusion in school and sports funding, booster clubs are being defined and regulated by the state legislatures, school districts as well as being governed by individual school principles and ADs.  And teacher’s unions will sacrifice sports before they offer up any concessions of their own. A coach who is also a union teacher has a terrible conflict of interest when he/she is faced with a personal pay or pension freeze or cut while “extra-curricular activities” take non-educational money from the school’s budget.

Which states and school districts will the ACLU go after next?  Will school districts proactively change their policies?  School districts may decide to keep charging until they are forced to stop, however, the California agreement requires reimbursing fees charged.  How far back and how big a payout will that be?  What budget will those dollars come from if the fees have already been spent?

The trends in cutting sports funding within the schools and the legal and legislative issues mentioned above may hasten a day when all high school sports become club sports with no tax payer funding.  That potential raises so many questions beyond how parents will afford the full cost of their kid playing a sport… or 3 sports per year.  It raises questions regarding what school districts will do with existing sports facilities: why do they need to maintain them when they no longer use them for school sanctioned programs?  The facilities could either become rental income for the school paid as another expense for the club teams to pick up like ice hockey does today or they will be converted to class rooms and labs.

All this reinforces the need for professional school sports fundraising outside the school district, off the school campus and even supplementing the booster club.  There are examples of school sports foundations being formed or the complete transfer of school sports to the parks department.  Some brand new high schools do not have the money to even get their sports programs started. 

If communities and booster clubs do not act proactively, when the announcement is made regarding cutting their kid’s sports, it will be too late to ramp up their fundraising game.  Booster clubs are used to raising $5,000 or even $25,000, but they don’t have the organization, events, technology, skills or people to raise $100,000 or more.  They would need to elevate their fundraising goals, methods and events because nickel and dime fundraisiers won’t do the job anymore.  They need to join forces across sports programs in a cooperative campaign and that they will need to raise money year round.  They need to expand their resources, skills and volunteer base which means that parents in an affordable sport such as cross-country will be asked to contribute their time to fundraisers that support the more expensive sports such as football or ice hockey.

Now is the time to take action.  Starting a Sportzine in your community is an important contribution to this cause.  Sportzines alone cannot “save” school sports, the numbers are too big for a single strategy to solve everything.  But Sportzine Publishers can be an important part of the solution and you can start today in your community.

School Fees: What’s Allowed?

Some specific fees, charges and deposits are authorized by law. These specific fees, charges and deposits are:

• Charges for optional attendance as a spectator at a school or district-sponsored activity.

• Charges for food served to students, subject to free and reduced price meal program eligibility and other restrictions specified in law.

• Paying the replacement cost for district books or supplies loaned to a student that the student fails to return, or that is willfully cut, defaced or otherwise injured, up to an amount not to exceed $10,000.

• Fees for field trips and excursions in connection with courses of instruction or school-related social, educational, cultural, athletic, or school band activities, as long as no student is prevented from making the field trip or excursion because of lack of sufficient funds.

• Medical or hospital insurance for field trips that is made available by the school district.

• Charges for required medical and accident insurance for athletic team members, so long as there is a waiver for financial hardship.

• Charges for standardized physical education attire of a particular color and design, but the school may not mandate that the attire be purchased from the school and no physical education grade of a student may be impacted based on the failure to wear standardized apparel “arising from circumstances beyond the control” of the student.

• Charges for the parking of vehicles on school grounds.

• Charges for the rental or lease of personal property needed for district purposes, such as caps and gowns for graduation ceremonies.

• Fees for school camp programs, so long as no student is denied the opportunity to participate because of nonpayment of the fee.

• Reimbursement for the direct cost of materials provided to a student for property the student has fabricated from such materials for his/her own possession and use, such as wood shop, art, or sewing projects kept by the student.

• Reimbursement for the actual cost of duplicating public records, student records, or a prospectus of the school curriculum.

• Fees for transportation to and from school, and transportation between school and regional occupational centers, programs or classes, as long as the fee does not exceed the statewide average nonsubsidized cost per student and provided there is a waiver provision based on financial need.

• Fees for transportation of pupils to places of summer employment.

• Tuition fees charged to pupils whose parents are actual and legal residents of an adjacent foreign country or an adjacent state.

• Tuition fees collected from foreign students attending a District school pursuant to an F-1 visa, equal to the full unsubsidized per capita cost of providing education during the period of attendance.

• Fees for an optional fingerprinting program for kindergarten or other newly enrolled students, if the fee does not exceed the actual costs associated with the program.

• Fees for community classes in civic, vocational, literacy, health, homemaking, and technical and general education, not to exceed the cost of maintaining the community classes.

• Deposits for band instruments, music, uniforms and other regalia which school band members take on excursions to foreign countries.

• Charges for eye safety devices, at a price not to exceed the district’s actual costs, in specified courses or activities in which students are engaged in, or are observing, an activity or the use of hazardous substances likely to cause injury to the eyes.