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Activities at North Branch high examined by boardBy Barbara Brown North Branch school district activities may be a target if the school board is forced to cut about $2 million from its budget for the next school year. In response to a board inquiry about how much it costs to run each activity the school sponsors, school activities director Becky Leuer presented her findings at the Jan. 22 school board meeting. In Leuerís summary, she pointed out that the most expensive high school activities are girls hockey, boys hockey, girls golf, gymnastics and cross country. The high costs are caused by low enrollment in the programs, renting space or equipment, coaching salaries and transportation. For the 2003-2004 school year all but girls golf have seen an increased participation. Golf is a spring sport and could prove more popular when the season starts. High school sports generated more than $69,000 in revenue for the district from fees and admission while the middle school sports brought in about $11,000 from fees. High school sports cost about $363 per participant. Middle school activities are about half that at $168 per participant. Middle school fees are less per participant because there are more students on the teams. However, teams with fewer members, like wrestling, speech and boys tennis, will cost those who do play more. The greatest factors in the higher high school participation fees are longer seasons with more games which means more costs for officials, transportation and coaches salaries. Fees also are required for fine arts and academic activities. Those costs range from $68 per person to $322. Speech is the highest because there are three coaches and the district provides transportation to all-day Saturday events. The activities department has already aimed at cutting costs. Recently the middle school and high school programs were combined to attempt to save. Last year there were nine gymnasts and the cost to the district to run the $11,104 program was $1,137 per athlete. The costs are offset by fees, admission and fund raising by individual teams. With 23 gymnasts on the team, which was made into a 7th grade through 12th grade program, the cost per participant should be about half, Leuer said. Combining programs is not always feasible and sometimes would not result in a cost savings anyway. Leuer presented funding alternatives that some districts have tried to keep athletics and activities in their schools. How North Branch compares Many districts have resorted to raising fees for students in order to participate. Some fees at some schools have jumped up to $200 per participant. North Branch charges athletes $65 per sport in high school for their first two athletic activities. Sports fees in grades 7 and 8 are $40 per athlete for the first two sports. The third sport fee is half price in both high school and middle school. Chisago Lakes High School charges $150 per sport, $225 for hockey, and $75 for fine arts with the fourth fine art/athletic combination free. Cambridge-Isanti charges $125 for the first sport, $100 for the second and $25 for the third with a family cap of $400. Fine arts fees are $60, $50 and $25 with a family cap of $195. North St. Paul district is one of the most expensive with $212 charged for hockey and football, $174 charged for soccer, wrestling and basketball, $135 for golf, nordic skiing and tennis and all other sports charged $154. At North St. Paul, however, all athletes receive a free pass for entry to 10 games during their season. Currently, North Branch charges $4 for adults and $3 for students to attend events. Chisago Lakes charges $5 for adults and $4 for students, Cambridge-Isanti charges $6 for adults and $4 for students and has season ticket option at $110 for two tickets or $75 for one. North St. Paul charges $5 and $4 respectively. Leuer told the board that they would have to determine how much is enough to raise participation fees and admission costs before families can not afford for their children to participate or they cannot attend events. For example, Leuer said the hockey programs are unlike any other activity in the district. She said the boys program, the most expensive to run, cost $24,522 during the 2002-2003 school year and there were 15 participants. The district provides transportation for practices and events and pays to rent ice for practice because the district does not have a facility for hockey. The cost per participant during the 2002-2003 hockey season came out to $1,680.18. That cost was offset by $680 generated from fees from the athletes to result in a net cost to the district of $1,634.84 per athlete. The hockey programs were the focus of an intense revitalization effort that started 4 years ago, Leuer said. Since then, the number of participants has jumped from 8 to 18 for boys and increased for girls as well. She said she hoped the board would not want to stop the momentum of improvement the program has seen in the past few years, adding that the athletes feel like they are really part of a team that includes their school mates instead of visiting players for another team. One of the least expensive activities for the district to run during the school year was the one-act play at $2,220.58. Fifteen students participated, which resulted in a $148.04 cost per participant to run. The program brought in $287.50 in fees and $678.50 in admission resulting in a net district cost of $1,254.58 or $83.64 per participant. Leuer told the board that it could consider whether the district should pay for transportation to all practices. She said the board could consider the legalities of the option. She told the board that when Mora combines with Cambridge-Isanti for girls hockey, the athletes have to get themselves to practice. Hinckley-Finlayson and Pine City join Rush City for gymnastics each season and the gymnasts are provided with rides to practice but not to competitions. The board also could charge different amounts depending on the cost of the activity. The board had asked Leuer to examine what the district could gain from having community -sponsored sports rather than the district paying for them. Leuer explained that the district has to have school-sponsored athletics if it wants to participate as a member of the Minnesota State High School League. She also advised the board that the schools are able to provide an all-inclusive, safe environment for the participants and that activities offered by the community may not be as safe or enveloping. Costs not reflected in the numbers presented Jan. 22 to the school board include membership in the Minnesota State High School League, uniforms, capital purchases and administrative costs. The discussion about cost for participation in district activities was sparked by the possibility that the district may be forced to cut the budget by a staggering $2.5 million next year depending on state funding and tax impact. District Superintendent Dr. Robert Stepaniak said the board does not want to cut any activities, but it may be forced to come up with alternatives to cutting educational programs. The conversation on the athletics program fees and costs is not over, Dr. Stepaniak said, and he expects the board to revisit it later. The district has asked several times in the last three years for voters to approve additional taxes to pay for operating costs for the district. Combining voter refusal to pass a referendum with severe state cuts, the North Branch district ñ along with many others in the state ñ have to make tough decisions about what they can and cannot financially support. The district is allowed to lease-levy for facility rental, Leuer said. ©ECM Post Review |