By Dave Dyer

Staff Writer

As a way to ease the financial burden of parents paying for their children to play sports, area schools are eliminating or not introducing sports activity fees, also known as the “pay to play” method.

As part of the newly proposed Scarborough school budget, $50,000 of expected revenue from high school sports activity fees would be eliminated for the upcoming school year. Superintendent David Doyle said it will still be up to the school board policy committee to determine whether or not to eliminate the activity fee between now and September.

Scarborough High School Athletic Director Gary Groves said the activity fee is $25 per student per sports season. There are three sports seasons during each school year, resulting in a $75 dollar activity fee cap per year, per student. For a family with multiple students at the high school, Groves said there is a $125 family fee per year.

Groves said waivers are available for families who have financial hardship.

Groves, who is in his first year as athletic director, said there have been “a couple” of financial waivers for students this year, but said the fee may affect other students who wish to try out for sports.

“Certainly you don’t know,” Groves said. “A student here may be struggling [financially] and instead of them coming forward, they just wouldn’t try out or participate, that’s the downside of a fee.”

Doyle said the fee was established in 1995, as a way to increase revenue in light of expanding population and to help subsidize funding for athletic programs.

Doyle said the fee goes into the district’s general fund, which means it doesn’t go directly to sports funding.

The elimination of the activity fee was first brought up by the Sports Done Right Leadership Team. Sports Done Right Chairman John Cole said part of the town’s application to become a Sports Done Right Community included elimination of the activity fee.

Sports Done Right is a program operated in conjunction with the University of Maine Center for Sport and Coaching that sets standards on how “healthy” sports programs should be organized.

Scarborough is not the only high school with an activity fee. Cape Elizabeth High School Athletic Director Jeff Thoreck said the school has a flat athletic fee of $125 for the school year, regardless of the number of sports a student participates in. He said while the money, projected at around $50,000, goes into the school’s general fund, it does eventually go toward sports funding.

Thoreck said waivers are available based on income of the student’s parents. Thoreck said the current proposed school budget would allow the athletic department to budget $274,000 for the 2009-2010 school year, which does not include the $50,000 activity fee revenue.

Thornton Academy Athletic Director Gary Stevens said the high school has a $125 activity fee for hockey programs, to cover the cost of ice time, but does not have activity fees for other sports. 

Stevens said there is a “no questions asked” waiver available for the hockey activity fee, with only Stevens and the hockey athletic booster president knowing a family’s financial situation.

Stevens said the school has “outstanding” booster groups that have increased the average amount raised per booster club from $10,000 to $20,000 during the past year, a 100 percent increase. 

Stevens said the school has also had opportunities to gain more revenue during the past year, as they hosted three playoff games for the football team, as well as playoff games for the boy’s basketball team. He said the Maine Principals’ Association selected Thornton Academy to host the 2009 state outdoor track and field championships. Thornton Academy hosted last year’s New England track and field championships, which Stevens said brought the school an additional $5,300 in revenue from ticket sales and concessions.

Bonny Eagle High School Athletic Director Mike LeGage said there is not an activity fee at the high school, as he said booster clubs help subsidize athletic programs. He said students and parents help pay for some programs, such as the football team’s annual summer camp, to help offset costs paid by booster clubs.

LeGage said at the last booster meeting, parents said they are worried about fundraising next year. As of now, the school will remain without an activity fee, LeGage said.

“I do think everyone is committed to offer as much as we can, using our resources as best as we can,” LeGage said.