CALDWELL, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
At its monthly board meeting Monday, the Caldwell School District Board of Trustees approved the motion to require students who participate in athletics at Caldwell High School to pay a fee. This upcoming school year, students will have to pay $100 to play a sport. This ruling also applies to Syringa Middle School athletics.
The board also passed the motion to increase Caldwell High School’s ASB (associated student body) card fee from $35 to $50. The card is required by the school for all students who participate in extracurricular activities.
These moves come after the $4.1 million supplemental levy failed to pass in May, forcing the district to find alternative ways to raise funds for its yearly athletics budget. Transportation is the biggest issue when it comes to the lack of funding for athletics.
"We know this would not cover all those costs, but we do feel we need to be able to cover some of the costs of transportation," Caldwell School District Superintendent Shalene French said during Monday's meeting.
For now, if a student participates in more than one sport, they would be charged for each sport. The board tabled a proposal for discounts for students who play multiple sports and for families with multiple students in athletics until the board's next meeting on July 22. Participation fees won’t be collected until Aug. 5.
The board mentioned a possible cap on how much a family would have to spend on participation fees, regardless of how many students they have in the district, in the proposal to be discussed later this month.
There were a few ideas discussed amongst the board on how to structure the pay-to-play system. One suggestion stated students paying $100 for the first sport they play in, $50 for the second and no charge for the third. Another was $100 for the first sport and second sports and $50 for the third.
The board hopes to hear input from the community in the meantime to help with their decision. French spoke on the importance of athletics and why action was needed to raise funds for these programs.
“Athletics keeps kids in school and gives them a lot of purpose," French said. "It builds the community of the school. Kids take pride in their school.”
Caldwell High School cross country and track coach Alex Martinez was present and spoke to the board to ask questions on how they notified the public about the original vote for the supplemental levy.
Martinez was disappointed in the district’s outreach and how it wasn’t made clear to the public the possible ramifications if the supplemental levy wasn’t approved.
“It doesn’t have to say vote yes,” Martinez said. “It can say, 'voting is happening on this day. Here’s the address for voting. This is what’s at stake.' I’m an employee of the school district and I didn’t know about it. From a communication standpoint, if the public does not know about it, you’ve failed as a communicator.”
He created a GoFundMe page for his team to help overcome the school’s budget cuts. Per the page, they have raised over $9,200, eclipsing their goal of $8,500. The page was set up in addition to their own fundraising efforts they’ve done over the years.
Martinez said he’s fairly sure that with the money they’ve raised so far, the team should be able to cover participation fees for the athletes.
Elsewhere in the area, Middleton High School charges students $80 per sport for the first two sports they play, but there's no charge on the third. If a student at Emmett or Kuna high schools plays three sports, both schools charge students for all three sports. Emmett has a $50 fee per sport while Kuna’s is $100.
The West Ada School District also has a pay-to-play system in place, charging high school students $110 per sport and $90 for middle school students, according to a district spokesperson. The fee is paid for only two sports, so a student-athlete who participates in three sports only has to pay the fee twice. This excludes the Idaho Fine Arts Academy, Renaissance High School and academy schools at the middle and high school level in the district.
The Boise and Nampa school districts do not have a pay-to-play system in place.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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