Board debates athletics revenue: keep middle-school fees, raise high-school pay-to-play and carve out gate-fee relief
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Summary
District staff proposed using pay-to-play fee adjustments and a $50,000 athletics revenue line to offset gate fees; the board discussed raising high-school fees while preserving middle-school rates, family caps, and targeted waivers for senior/homecoming events and practical GoFan ticketing issues.
District staff presented an athletics revenue review and potential fee adjustments to offset about $50,000 of consolidated gate fees in the proposed budget.
Staff noted current pay-to-play is $1.50 and modeled several options: raising high-school pay-to-play to cover middle-school reductions, instituting family caps, or selectively waiving fees for senior nights and some homecoming events. “If the question was, how much do you have to increase pay to play to remove middle school pay to play? It’ll be... we have to raise pay to play by $58,” staff said in the presentation showing options to offset specific lines in the budget.
Board members discussed equity across sports (noting low-cost, no-cut sports like cross country and track), concerns about making families pay more for participation while gates remain charged, and operational friction with GoFan ticketing and on-site entry lines. Several members favored increasing high-school fees modestly while keeping middle-school fees lower to preserve participation for younger students; others asked staff for regional comparisons before adopting a permanent change.
Staff suggested building a $50,000 margin into the proposed budget that could allow carving out certain nights (for example, senior nights) from gate fees without losing net revenue.
Next steps: staff will provide comparative pay-to-play and family-cap data from neighboring districts, refine revenue projections, and prepare an option for the April budget adoption discussion.
