A successful year of fund raising for the Endzone Club means garnering $25,000 for the two football teams at North Harford High School in Harford County.
The money — amounting to $300 per football player — pays for equipment, uniforms and pads for the school’s varsity and junior-varsity teams. If parents were asked to pay a fee to the school for playing the sport, that might make the club’s job that much more difficult — even if the fund raising still was involved.
“We think we do a better job fund raising and gathering donations than if parents had to pay a fee outright,” said Terence Cox, the Endzone Club’s president. He has two sons on the school’s football teams. “We know where that money goes.
“And a lot of people want to do it,” Cox said of the fund raising. “They want what’s best for their kids, so they help out.”
As the scholastic athletic season moves into full swing, several cash-strapped school districts in Maryland are following a national trend — charging students fees to participate on high school sports teams instead of cutting back or eliminating extracurricular activities.
Known as “pay to play,” the fees can range from a few dollars to more than $250 per sport. These fees know no socioeconomic borders, school officials say: Districts in wealthy suburban areas are as likely to impose fees as those in poorer urban regions.
In the Baltimore region, only school districts in Carroll County have imposed such fees, joining with those in Frederick and Washington counties.
Grumbling from parents
Besides the obvious financial problems associated with such fees, other unintended consequences could result, experts say.
“High school sports are all about competition,” said Cox. “Hopefully, some of the kids will go on to the next level.
“If you do pay to play, you might be bringing in the recreation-sport mentality, where all kids get the same amount of playing time. Parents may say, ‘I paid, so my kid should get to play just as much as the next.’ “
Nationally, participation fees seem to be on the rise — and in some regions that have charged fees for many years, the amounts are reaching unprecedented levels. The revenues from athletic fees can become quite significant for school districts, especially as participation rates continue to rise nationally.
“In general terms, it’s out there and has been for a long time,” said John Gillis, an assistant director with the National Federation of State High School Associations in Indianapolis. “The preference is you hope programs can be self-sustaining and not have to resort to pay to play. But many administrations are in the situation of either having pay to play or [not having] the programs.”
Of a given school district, the athletic budget usually only represents about 1 percent to 2 percent of the total operating budget, Gillis said. But “sadly, when they make the cuts, those are the things that get cut first. A lot of times, administrations look at these programs and feel they are not necessary. We feel they are of great value, and the ultimate losers in the whole scenario are the kids.”
Impact on participation
The increasing reliance on participation fees comes as the number of students participating in high school athletics is at an all-time high.
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In the 2002-2003 school year, more than 6.85 million students participated in high school athletics, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. This marked the fifth consecutive year that a record was established for such participation and the 14th straight year the number of participants increased.
In Maryland, the numbers also have increased, with more than 97,000 students participating in public high school sports during the 2002-2003 academic year, according to Ned Sparks, executive director of the Baltimore-based Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association.
That number is up from 94,131 in the 2001-2002 school year and from 86,607 five years ago, he said.
Sparks believes that the fees charged by the districts in Carroll, Frederick and Washington counties so far have not affected participation rates.
“It’s an individual decision made by the local school systems,” Sparks said. “If the fees became really expensive, participation could become a concern. There is always that concern — and the concern that it will be a hardship on people.”
‘We need to do this’
In Carroll County, a $60 fee is charged per student per sport. Officials say it was necessary to continue the school district’s current level of athletic offerings.
“It’s a situation where parents understand that we need to do this if we are going to maintain the level of athletics we have,” said Bruce Cowan, the supervisor of physical education and athletics for Carroll County Public Schools. “Somewhere along the line, you would have to cut the number of programs or coaches or something.”
Cowan estimated that more than 4,000 students participate in the system’s athletic programs. The fee was imposed last year and brought in about $260,000, enough to cover transportation costs to athletic events.
“It seems to be going well,” Cowan said. “You always have your isolated concerns. But I think that would always happen. Anytime you add a fee, people wonder why.”
The fee applies only to sports, not other extracurricular activities — and it may be waived for students who participate in a reduced or free federal lunch program.
Issue of fairness
But not all Carroll County parents feel the surcharges are fair, said Claire Kwiatkowski, president of the Carroll County Council of PTAs.
“It’s gotten to the point where whenever there’s a budget crunch, it gets put back on the parents,” Kwiatkowski said. “It’s an unfortunate situation. Public education costs more and more, and they supply less and less to the students.”
Carroll County increasingly is becoming a bedroom community for residents with more disposable income, replacing the traditional farming roots, she added.
“There is a wide divide between the have and have-nots,” Kwiatkowski said. “The school says they will waive the fee if the student can’t afford it, but that puts a lot of pressure on the student.”
That added financial pressure is exactly why Baltimore City has steered clear of even mentioning the issue of participation fees, said Bob Wade, coordinator of interscholastic athletics for Baltimore City Public Schools.
“A lot of the population we serve are inner-city youth, and a lot of parents are on fixed incomes,” Wade said. “The school board has never entertained the idea.
“I’ve not been involved in any discussions [on the topic] since I’ve been on board,” added Wade, who has been an athletic coordinator for eight years. “I know it would cause a tremendous uproar from taxpayers.”
Containing costs
But other area school systems have considered participation to stem rising costs.
Harford County schools, in which Cox’s Endzone Club operates, considered the idea several years ago, but it never advanced.
Transportation expenses and salaries for athletic officials cost Harford County schools nearly $425,000 last year, said Forest Wiest, supervisor of high school physical education and athletics for Harford County. On top of that, the district pays coaches’ salaries, equipment costs and maintenance.
Of the roughly 11,000 high school students in Harford County, more than 5,500 participate in at least one athletic activity, he said.
“Personally, I think it’s probably inevitable,” Wiest said of pay-to-play fees, which he does not favor. “Money is much tighter now, and expenses spiral upwards year after year. So you either have to cut back on what you do or you have to pay the bill.”