Spring-Ford ponders extracurricular fees

The Spring-Ford Area School District's efforts to close a $10.4 million budget gap have drawn attention mostly for introducing the possibility of a 7.6 percent property tax hike, which when the school board .

Increased property taxes are not the only possibility for increased district revenue, however.  The district is also considering the implementation of a la carte fees for participation in team sports and other extracurricular activities.

"There are a couple of schools now that have actually implemented [extracurricular fees] ... I do think there are some realistic comparisons that we can do now. I know Souderton [Area School District], for example, has put it in place this year," Superintendent Dr. Marsha Hurda said at a February 14 meeting of the school board's extracurricular committee.

"This is an issue that we're going to have to grab a hold of and really investigate this year as we're going through the budget process," Hurda said.

Spring-Ford athletic director Mickey McDaniel presented the committee with examples of fees that had been introduced in other school districts around the region.

"Octorara [Area School District] started at $35 for a first sport, $10 for a second sport, and the third sport was free. They changed that to where they were charging $50 per sport," McDaniel said.

"Palisades [School District] charges $25 per sport, capped at $100 for a family," McDaniel said.

One of the higher fees cited by McDaniel was that of the Daniel Boone Area School District, which McDaniel said charges $150 per sport, with a $500 cap for each family.

The possibility exists that the introduction of the fees could precipitate a legal fight.

Assistant Superintendent Ken Donohue said that according to the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, there is no case law either supporting or precluding the introduction of separate fees for individual extracurricular activities.

A preliminary review last year indicated that the district could yield about $70,000 in annual revenue from extracurricular fees, but Donohue emphasized that much of the data used to generate that figure involved "conjecture."

"We did not want to risk whatever the monetary gain was in order to defend it [legally]," said committee chair David Shafer, referring to last year's discussions.

The question of whether extracurricular fees are legal has come up elsewhere.  In December, the California State Supreme Court held that extracurricular programs are "an integral part of public education" and are protected from charges by that state's constitution.