Tewksbury — The Tewksbury School Committee heard a detailed presentation April 30 from Business Manager Dave Libby on proposed increases to extracurricular fees intended to help the district cover rising costs for transportation, stipends and supplies.

Libby said the district’s athletic and activity fees have not been meaningfully revised in many years and that rising transportation and operating costs left revenue trailing expenses. “Everything from the stipends, transportation, just supplies, materials, everything is costing more,” Libby said during the committee meeting.

Why it matters: The proposed changes would affect families who pay for multiple sports and clubs and could alter participation for students in lower‑income households. Committee members pressed for protections for families eligible for free or reduced‑price meals and for phased or tiered implementation to limit abrupt impacts.

Details of the review and recommendations
- Athletics: Libby described the current athletic fee as $150 per sport with a family cap of $600 and said that fee levels were set in the early 2000s. The presentation included scenarios showing how higher fees in prior years would have increased revenues; staff recommended a phased increase (examples discussed in the presentation included $225 and $250 scenarios) to help close the gap between revenues and transportation‑driven expenses. Libby said that transportation accounts for roughly 82% of what athletic fees fund. The district currently provides waivers for students qualifying for free or reduced meals; staff reported 99 waivers this year.
- Clubs and activities: The high school currently charges $15 per club with a $100 individual cap; the Wynn and Ryan elementary/middle settings have different, higher caps and fees. Staff proposed aligning the Wynn with the high school and recommended raising the typical club fee to $75 with an individual cap of $300 at the high school and Wynn, phased in over two years. Projected effects shown in the presentation suggested the proposed caps would reduce the percentage of unpaid registrations caused by caps from about 34% to about 15% under current participation numbers.
- Parking: High‑school parking fees were not recommended for change. The district currently charges $150 for the year and uses fee revenue to cover half of one security monitor position plus maintenance and small capital items.

Questions and concerns raised by committee members
Committee members asked whether higher fees could price students out of expensive sports such as hockey, whether certain high‑cost activities could be treated differently, and whether fees could be structured so that programs that use more transportation bear a larger share of those costs.
- Member Kayla B. Ajani Smith and others suggested implementing phased increases and continuing to re‑examine the structure annually. Several members asked for a list of clubs and the relative costs per club (for example, ski club versus yoga club) so the committee could consider a tiered or activity‑specific structure.
- Members proposed exploring payment plans or other supports for families that receive large combined bills when multiple children and multiple activities are involved and asked staff to better publicize eligibility for fee waivers tied to state free/reduced‑price meal certification.

Next steps
Libby and Superintendent Terry O’Regan said the presentation was intended to give the committee time to review before a proposed vote at a future meeting. The recommendation in the presentation calls for committee feedback, broader community input, and a scheduled vote at a subsequent meeting after the district posts additional details and financial scenarios. Libby said some contract and budget items (for example bus contracts) will influence how exact fee levels are set going forward.

Ending
Committee members generally favored a phased approach and asked staff to provide more granular data — club lists, transportation‑by‑activity cost breakdowns and the attendance/participation data the district now collects under new appendix B procedures — before taking a final vote.