Schools

Pay to Participate Policy Gets First Reading

A second reading and public discussion will be held June 21.

In September, students in Moorestown High School and the William Allen Middle School who want to participate in an athletic or co-curricular activity will have to pay a fee.

On June 1, the Moorestown Board of Education had a first reading of an Activity Participation Fee policy. The pay to participate policy will have a second reading and public discussion on June 21. At that meeting the board will decide whether to have a global fee or per activity fee.

“This is the culmination of a year of work,” said board member David Weinstein, who chairs the policy committee.

Find out what's happening in Moorestownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The committee, he said, has discussed how the policy would read to be flexible enough in the future. The committee came up with two possible implementations:

A.     Global Fee: Any student who wished to participate in any activity would pay a fee prior to the start of the first activity. Students who pay the fee could participate in as many activities as they wanted. One fee would cover all activities for each student.

Find out what's happening in Moorestownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

B.     Per Activity Fee: Students would pay a fee for each activity they wish to participate in during the school year.

The activities, fee amounts and activity fee caps will be recommended by the superintendent and approved by the board on an annual basis.

“We had several objectives (for the policy),” said Weinstein. “We wanted it to be fair and equitable and administratively feasible.”

Waivers and reductions for hardship cases will be part of either option. There is also the option of a family fee cap that would be addressed if the per activity fee scenario is chosen.

According to the policy, the fee does not guarantee a student participation or any specific level of participation in any activity. The payment of the fee does not give any student or his/her family the right to determine level of participation or staffing of activities.

“This is not a pay to be a star,” said Weinstein. “This is an entrance fee to be part of an activity.”

According to the policy, Option A will not allow for refunds. Option B would allow for refunds if a student is not accepted into the activity due to lack of space or opportunity within the activity (a student is cut from a team or the play or the student is ineligible to participate). A refund would also be provided if, after registering for the activity, the activity is canceled. Refunds will not be provided if a student quits during the course of the activity.

“My recommendation is for a global fee structure,” said Weinstein. “Administratively it’s easier. That’s my personal view.”

Matt Simeone agreed.

“The pay per activity model is somewhat untenable,” he said. “A beneficial byproduct of the global option is it may encourage participation.”

At the high school, 85 percent of students participate in some type of activity.

The money raised from the activity fee will contribute about $220,000–15 to 16 percent–to the total cost of extra-curricular activities.

“The global fee will give incentive to participate in more activities,” said Greg Harr, a teacher at the high school and director of the fall play and spring musical. “The per activity fee is a disincentive to participate in more than one activity.”

Weinstein said the pay to participate committee looked at about 20 districts that already have a pay to participate policy. Those policies, he said, range from a single fee for all activities, to a menu of activities with different fees.

Weinstein would like to have the policy implemented by the end of the school year to have the fee in place for September.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here