Pay to play? What do you think?

[roller coaster]

Oak Lawn HS is instituting a pay to play policy to help with the budget. What do you think? Do you have to pay for sports & extracurriculars?

http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/news/3866470-521/oak-lawn-high-school-adds-fees-for-athletics-extracurriculars.html

[steady eddy]

haha poor Oak Lawn.

[zpppe]

At LZ we have to pay $220 per sport.

[kmatus]

At LZ we have to pay $220 per sport.

Ar Carmel Catholic it's currently $120 per sport, but then again the is already tuition.

[mc140]

Its more common than you think. It would kill track and cross country at our school though if it ever happened.

[DiscoGary]

I would check the history of the district's employee/student ratio. It's probably been going up in your district like it has in all other districts.

Then find out why. At the bottom of it you should find an unfunded mandate by the State which requires that districts spend about $10,000 per special needs student.

Then chart the number of special needs students in your district over the last 15 years. You should find the number climbing by around 1% of the student body every year, like I found in the Deerfield district which was at 20% special needs students when I left that district 6 years ago.

What's happened is that the State has colluded with the teachers and SEI unions to force local districts to hire more people at their own expense. Then the local administration flags an increasing number of students as "special needs" which triggers more spending and hiring... which does no good for anyone beyond the few truly troubled students.

This puts an enormous burden on the school budget, which is why, even though taxes continue to go up, and schools rake in more and more money, they are still unable to do the basic job they did in the past.

Go to the school board and ask for the history of the employee/student ratio. It'll be fun.

Just sayin.

[roller coaster]

At LZ we have to pay $220 per sport.

Are you serious? That's insane.

[averagerunner11]

I've always had to pay to play sports since middle school. I thought it was normal.

Right now at my high school, it's 100$ for the first sport, 75$ for the second, and free for the third.

[Chonka10]

NV used to be $80 per sport but now it's something more ridiculous. If you did three sports you only had to pay for two though.

[emdeb]

I believe 5 years ago HF was $50...it's probably gone up since then. ^^ HF has the same 3 for 2 deal.

[Phenom Man]

If our school charged a fee to run cross country, we'd maybe have 10 kids on the team. Participation is hard enough to come by as is for our school. I don't think it's crazy to pay for a sport, but some of the prices you guys have been listing are outrageous. I'm assuming you would have to pay for cross country AND track then, which could be well over 100 even 200 dollars. Most sports require more equipment on top of that as well, so it's even more ridiculous.

[ILrunna]

Pay to play is pretty common. My conference/school district, all schools are around $150-$250 per sport.

[kmatus]

I would check the history of the district's employee/student ratio. It's probably been going up in your district like it has in all other districts.

Then find out why. At the bottom of it you should find an unfunded mandate by the State which requires that districts spend about $10,000 per special needs student.

Then chart the number of special needs students in your district over the last 15 years. You should find the number climbing by around 1% of the student body every year, like I found in the Deerfield district which was at 20% special needs students when I left that district 6 years ago.

What's happened is that the State has colluded with the teachers and SEI unions to force local districts to hire more people at their own expense. Then the local administration flags an increasing number of students as "special needs" which triggers more spending and hiring... which does no good for anyone beyond the few truly troubled students.

This puts an enormous burden on the school budget, which is why, even though taxes continue to go up, and schools rake in more and more money, they are still unable to do the basic job they did in the past.

Go to the school board and ask for the history of the employee/student ratio. It'll be fun.

Just sayin.

You are a wise young man to see the truth....

[kmatus]

If our school charged a fee to run cross country, we'd maybe have 10 kids on the team. Participation is hard enough to come by as is for our school. I don't think it's crazy to pay for a sport, but some of the prices you guys have been listing are outrageous. I'm assuming you would have to pay for cross country AND track then, which could be well over 100 even 200 dollars. Most sports require more equipment on top of that as well, so it's even more ridiculous.

Yes, XC and track are considered separate sports. We are lucky that the admin doesn't split indoor and outdoor track.

[zpppe]

At LZ we have to pay $220 per sport.

http://www.lz95.net/lzhs/athletics/Registration/Spring%20Registration.pdf

Here's our registration for spring sports, $220 per team. There is a $1000 cap per family though.

[Phenom Man]

http://www.lz95.net/lzhs/athletics/Registration/Spring%20Registration.pdf

Here's our registration for spring sports, $220 per team. There is a $1000 cap per family though.

No wonder I saw a strong following of LZ parents at every meet you guys went to. They have something invested, lol

[usnspecialist]

back when i ran there, WWS was $100 per sport (indoor and outdoor is lumped together), with a cap of something like 400-500 per family.

[roller coaster]

I cannot believe the prices that some of you had to pay to participate. I find it interesting that the Oak Lawn plan also involves extracurricular activities. I know that with some of the prices that you are quoting, our program would be ner non-existent. I know it's coming, but I hope it's more along the lines of the Oak Lawn plan. I suppose we'll just try to fund raise more so that maybe the sport can help to offset some of the fees for those in need.

[OnePoint]

we paid at DGN. i can't remember how much. i think it might've been 50 but then went up to around 100 my senior year?

[steady eddy]

If it costed money, I dont think I wouldve ever tried xc. And I wouldve been "running" the 100m and long jumping through high school, just like 8th grade.

[illinoisphotographer]

It used to be $55 or so at Naperville Central per sport

[TallnTin]

Paid per sport at OPRF. Don't remember how much but it was more than 20 and less than 100. I think its perfectly fair to do this as well because if you go out into the community and do an extra curricular they charge money as well.

How many XC teams do fund raising events? What about track teams? Football? Wrestling? Basketball? You probably see them doing it while XC and Track probably won't.

[Doc Awesome]

turns out my auld HS is cutting 7 programs.

They include: Golf, Poms, Gymnastics, Diving, and three others I dont know

Poms is pretty big though, its a status thing. And I am completely confused on why they are cutting gymnastics, we won state two times in the past three years...

I officially hate the principal now.

[idontgetit14]

Hinsdale South was free for us, and is still as far as I know. The odd thing was that in junior high we had to pay to be on a sport. I think then it was like $60. But then high school was free for us.

[roller coaster]

Paid per sport at OPRF. Don't remember how much but it was more than 20 and less than 100. I think its perfectly fair to do this as well because if you go out into the community and do an extra curricular they charge money as well.

How many XC teams do fund raising events? What about track teams? Football? Wrestling? Basketball? You probably see them doing it while XC and Track probably won't.

We fundraise for XC & Track. I try to keep it simple. We work some specific road races that donate to our booster club. I don't like the kids selling things, because it ends up being their parents & relatives buying the stuff all the time. With the road races, kids get a t-shirt and get to see all types of people out running after high school. It's eye-opening for a lot of them.

[DiscoGary]

turns out my auld HS is cutting 7 programs.

They include: Golf, Poms, Gymnastics, Diving, and three others I dont know

Poms is pretty big though, its a status thing. And I am completely confused on why they are cutting gymnastics, we won state two times in the past three years...

I officially hate the principal now.

I have been involved in meetings where school administrators are deciding what to cut, and I can tell you they intentionally pick a program they think will cause a lot of outrage so that parents will rally behind them and demand that taxes get increased. It's a common tactic. They do this so they don't have to face down the unions. It's disgusting.

School districts usually bump salaries the last few years before retirement to boost pensions. I'll bet that your auld district could fund those programs just on the money they'd save if they stopped spiking salaries before retirement. Go check it out.

Knowledge is power Doc.

[usnspecialist]

Paid per sport at OPRF. Don't remember how much but it was more than 20 and less than 100. I think its perfectly fair to do this as well because if you go out into the community and do an extra curricular they charge money as well.

How many XC teams do fund raising events? What about track teams? Football? Wrestling? Basketball? You probably see them doing it while XC and Track probably won't.

we usually did 1 or 2 car washes a summer at the former Wheaton central (and now former hubble middle school) right on the corner of the 2 busiest streets in town. We would have an absolute blast every year and usually made quite a bit.

[Doc Awesome]

AAAAANNNDDDDDD my High School's principal is re-assigned...

meh. She never did like the running program