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Trustees preview athletics pay-to-participate fees and attendance-policy updates as budget pressure grows
Summary
Board members reviewed draft per-sport cost breakdowns and discussed charging non-district students higher participation fees; trustees also approved an attendance policy update and vacation-leave policy tied to the district's four-day week.
Trustees reviewed preliminary per-sport cost worksheets intended to drive decisions about pay-to-participate fees if students who are not enrolled in Emmett schools join school teams.
What administrators presented: Business and athletic staff presented line-item examples showing equipment, officials, entry fees and coach pay for middle-school sports; one example showed a total annual cost of about $12,700 for middle-school volleyball, which worked out to roughly $270 per participating student with current enrollment.
Board discussion: Trustees discussed whether non-district families should be charged the full per-player cost if their children play on Emmett teams, and how that policy would affect access and booster-club fundraising. Trustee Jones said districts need to adapt to the state’s growing school-choice environment: "If people choose to take the dollars to follow children, this is what it’s going to look like," he said. Several trustees asked administration to prepare specific per-sport figures at the high-school level and suggested community outreach to learn what families would pay.
Related policy and budget items: The board approved, as presented, a revision to attendance policy 3050 that allows service hours outside the regular school day (language added to enable Saturday or other make-up options). Trustees also approved an update to policy 5450 (vacation leave) to align with the district’s four-day school week; the update left a 240-day vacation tier for maintenance staff who remain on a different calendar.
Budget context: The business office reported February foundation payments, an adjusted enrollment unit estimate and smaller-than-expected interest revenue; modernization fund interest receipts were reported as about $28,000. Trustees asked for further detail tying athletics fee proposals to projected participation counts and revenues.
Ending: Administration was directed to complete per-sport cost worksheets for high-school athletics, gather community input on fee levels, and return proposed pay-to-participate fee schedules to the board for April discussion ahead of a required public hearing in June.
