Holman board hears lengthy debate on proposed high-school activity fees and waiver approach

District staff presented a proposal to the School District of Holman Board of Education to charge standardized high-school activity fees intended to preserve extracurricular offerings without cutting programs. Jason (staff member) said the plan would use the district’s existing waiver system and that families qualifying for free lunch would be covered and families qualifying for reduced-price lunch would pay 60 percent of the fee. “I could easily rally a whole bunch of people behind making sure that people get the opportunities that they need in this community,” Jason said, describing community willingness to support hardship cases.

Board members said the proposal mattered because the district faces budget pressures and because out-of-school activities are central to many students’ experience. “Seventy percent of our school participates in these,” Jason said, describing the program’s scale and saying the fees would protect existing levels of participation without eliminating the need for some fundraising.

Discussion focused on who would qualify for waivers, caps on family liability, and operational details. Board member Bridget asked whether a waiver system beyond free/reduced lunch would be available for families who do not qualify for free/reduced but still face hardship. Board member Amy and others urged a built-in hardship contact and pointed to peer districts that use waivers or varying fee structures. Jason said the proposal would include a hardship process and that the district would apply handbook waiver language to unpaid fees; “we would let them participate and figure it out on the back end,” he said, indicating students would not be pulled from activities while family accounts were worked through.

Staff described the proposed cap of a maximum $900 per family per year to limit cumulative costs for families with multiple participants, and noted that certain tier-2 sports (for example, hockey) currently generate much higher per-player bills in some seasons. Jason said the model would create certainty for families who currently face unpredictable bills; he contrasted the new cap and fixed-fee approach with existing fundraising-dependent, per-player bills such as a previously cited $2,600 hockey bill at the high school. He also provided comparisons from other districts: Eau Claire district winter sports at about $200, some districts’ hockey fees between $400 and $550, and SPASH at $550.

Board members asked whether fees would be reexamined annually; Jason said any future fee increase would come before the board. Board member questions also covered whether fees would apply only to high school (Jason confirmed the proposal targets high school only), how coop sports fees would be allocated, and whether field trips or travel charges would be bundled into the activity fee (Jason said the district currently does not prebill trips). Several board members praised the amount of research presented and emphasized transparency about how programs would be classified and funded.

No motion or vote on the activity-fee proposal occurred during the meeting; the discussion remained at the exploratory/policy-design stage.

Looking ahead, board members said fall-sports meetings and enrollment periods will be opportunities to answer parent questions and to explain any final board action once a specific fee schedule and waiver procedure are returned to the board for consideration.