Highland school board lowers activity fees in hopes of growing participation
After years of pushback from stakeholders in the school district, Highland’s school board voted to reduce its activity fees, a move officials hope will quell complaints and heighten student participation.
The school board’s discussion stemmed mainly from athletic fees, which Superintendent Mike Sutton said are the highest in the area at $225 for high school students and $135 for middle school students.
“This has been an issue for as long as I’ve been on the board,” said board member Rene’ Friedel, who has been on the board for 14 years.
The board approved a reduction to the athletic fees that will drop to the high school’s fees to $150, while the middle school’s fee will drop to $125. In total, the reduction in fees will end up costing the school roughly $35-40,000.
Athletic Director Amy Boscolo said reducing the fee will make it more likely a student will participate in activities and on athletic teams. She said high fees often drive students away from participating.
“It is holding kids back because they cannot afford the fee and buy all the equipment and fund raise to travel for competitions,” Boscollo said.
The high school’s bowling team saw a large drop in participation when the fees were initially raised years ago, said Laura Wander-Vrell, who coaches the team. She said some students come to tryouts but end up not signing up when they learn about the high fees.
“I used to get 30 kids trying out for bowling,” she said. “Now I get 10, 11 if I’m lucky. The minute those fees went up it dropped.”
At Triad High School, students pay $85 per sport. At the middle school students pay $55 per sport. At nearby Bethalto School District, high school students pay $150 per sport and middle school students pay $75.
However, Sutton disagreed with the notion that lower fees would increase participation. He said he said he’s hopeful it will help, but said he didn’t believe students will pay the fees if they want to be on a team.
“I don’t think if you’re talking to a kid who is thinking about participating — if you say that it’s $225 or $150 — is going to make a significant difference in participation,” Sutton said. “Maybe it does and if it does fantastic. But I’m concerned that it won’t necessarily help.”
Board Vice President Joe Mott said the fee decrease should be a trial to see if students really do get more involved when fees are lowered. Reintroducing higher fees, Sutton said, would most likely prove to be as difficult as when they were first raised.
The fees were raised during tight budgetary years to keep programs running and at the time, Sutton said, were met with pushback from parents and other stakeholders in the district.
He said the district currently has the financial breathing room to lower fees but said if the fees needed to be raised in the future, it may be difficult.
The new fees will take effect next school year.
Gate Fees
The district’s high gate fees for sporting events also was a point of discussion at the meeting. Currently, adults pay $5 to attend high school games and $3 to attend middle school games. Students pay $3 for most events at the high school and $1 for games at the middle school.
“Looking around at some of the area schools and in our conference in particular it looks like we are the highest adult gate at $5 and the highest student at $3,” Sutton said. “It seems like a dollar, but for some of these parents who have 20 basketball games in a season, it adds up.”
Average adult gate prices in the area are $4 and student passes are $2. Sutton said when it comes to gate fees, Highland also is the most expensive.
Boscolo said after paying a hefty athletics fee, many parents say the high gate fees make it difficult to justify bringing the entire family to events.
“It becomes almost unaffordable to bring the kids or to have both parents go,” she said. “The money is going out and out and out, and it’s actually hindering the amount that parents can see their kids play.”
A family pass, which would cost roughly $100 for an entire year, is the high school’s possible solution. Boscollo said parents said they’d be more likely to attend more events with a season pass-like offering.
Highland High School Principal Chris Becker said lowering gate fees or creating a season pass would go a long way toward the “culture goals” the school has made a focus. He and Boscolo agreed that many students and parents don’t go to the games because of the price, or simply leave other family members at home.
At away events, Becker said, other schools typically have more home fans than Highland has at its home games. He said that’s most likely because of the high gate fees.
Mott agreed that a season pass is a good idea, but said he was unsure about lowering the gate fee. He added that the district should consider selling reserved parking and seating for athletic events.
The board asked Boscollo and Becker to continue researching the family passes and agreed to discuss it further at a future board meeting.
This story was originally published March 26, 2019 at 5:03 PM.