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Elko trustees debate proposed mandatory sports fee as students and trustees warn of participation losses
Summary
The Elco County School District board held a lengthy first reading of a policy to permit districtwide per-sport fees aimed at offsetting athletics costs. Administrators emphasized hardship waivers; students and trustees warned fees could reduce participation in small communities.
The Elco County School District board opened a lengthy first reading on a proposed change to policy IDFB that would allow the district to charge a mandatory per‑sport participation fee districtwide.
Administration said the fee would be a tool to help cover costs that gate receipts and school activity funds do not fully meet, including emergency equipment, concussion‑management programs and additional insurance. Superintendent Anderson told the board the proposal leaves the dollar amount out of the policy itself so the district can set fees administratively and change them without redoing board policy.
At the board meeting, a student speaker describing life in Jackpot urged caution. “I don’t feel that students should be forced to pay to be able to play the sport when they already have a hard time getting to play the sport in general,” the student said, citing classmates who could not afford equipment or travel. Trustee comments echoed that concern: several trustees said a mandatory fee risks lowering participation for families already struggling to pay basic costs.
Administrators said the policy includes a financial‑hardship waiver process. “If someone qualifies for free or reduced lunch and they ask for the hardship waiver with proper paperwork, the district would not charge those people,” Anderson said, explaining how waivers would be applied uniformly across sites.
Trustees asked whether the fee would be uniform across sports and locations; administration confirmed the intention was a single district fee per sport regardless of school site. Board members pressed for clarity on how waivers will be handled, whether sites could use discretionary funds to cover student costs, and how homeschool or foreign‑exchange students would be treated. Administration said school sites could still use discretionary or booster funds to cover individual students as needed while the district-level hardship waiver process would remain consistent across sites.
No vote was taken. The policy is scheduled for additional refinement and a later return to the board; administrators and trustees asked staff to provide specific implementation procedures and examples of waiver administration before any fee is set or charged.
