New Extra-Curricular Activity Fees

The Board adopted a new Extracurricular Activity Fee schedule designed to more closely align fees with the costs of activities, although it will leave some activities shy of being self-funded. Overall, the new fee schedule will not cover $1,200 of transportation costs. If no changes were made, $3,300 of costs would not have been covered.

Here is the new fee schedule:

$125
Soccer (Boys and Girls)
Softball
Boys' Volleyball
Scholar Bowl

$100
Jazz Band
Basketball
Girls' Volleyball

$75
Band
Cross Country
Gifted Programs

$50
Chorus
Track
Cheerleading
Art Club

$20
Beta Club

Activities that require no fee (due to being self-funded)
Middle School Play (funded by gate receipts)
8th Grade Trip (funded by fund-raisers and dances)

Costs will be paid by the district for any team qualifying for a state tournament/contest. The Fee Schedule and costs of extra-curricular activities will be evaluated each year in the Spring, as long as District 3 has extra-curricular fees.

Over the past tow years, District 3 has spent around $14K for transportation for extra-curricular activities.

Board member Steve Knar argued against raising fees to a level he felt might adversely affect participation in extracurricular activities. He proposed raising all fees by 10%.

Board member Gerry Blohm and Board Vice-President Doris Sadik expressed the need to represent to the community that the programs are self-funded, as they told the community they would be. Sadik said that, until the district is in a position not to have to issue Tax Anticipation Warrants, the activities need to be self-funded. Blohm said that the activities are important, but the Board has to abide by what they said they would do. He said he could go along with the fee schedule that was approved because the Board was making an "honest effort."

Blohm said that liked the multi-tier fee schedule. He said he had no problem raising fees, since the biggest increase is $25. He said that he talked with several people in the community, and the most feedback he got was from people saying they didn't want their child's activity fees to go toward paying for another activity's bus trip. He noted that the parents of the softball players should be informed that their $125 activity fee still does not cover the expense of the activity.

Knar challenged Blohm's point, saying that Blohm wants to cover the expense, but he doesn't want to raise the fees to ensure the expenses are covered. Blohm countered that self-funded is self-funded, but he doesn't want to drop a bomb on people. Board Member Pat Hughes said he didn't think the Board was dropping a bomb on people, they were just saying what the costs are.

Board Member Bob Nunamaker noted that the fee increases may destroy the extra-curricular activities, but that parents already think that teams are not competitive, because the volunteer coaches are required to play all students equally.

Sadik acknowledged Nunamaker's argument that the quality has gone down, but until we see that, she said, the District should cover the costs. Knar said that every kid should have the opportunity to participate in extra-curricular activities, and worried that raising fees would be a hardship to families on a tight budget. Knar voted against the new fee schedule, while Nunamaker, Sadik, Blohm, Hughes, and Tom Mollet voted in favor. Board President Paula Zasadil was not in attendance for this meeting.

Tax Anticipation Warrants to be Approved at Tonight's Board Meeting

The Board is expected to approve the issuance of approximately $567K in Tax Anticipation Warrants (TAW) during tonight's meeting, which starts at 7:00 pm in the library of the Middle School. Tax Anticipation Warrants allow school districts to borrow money when County tax distributions are late, enabling the School District to pay bills on time, instead of delaying payments until the tax money is distributed. In order to issue TAW's, the school district must, by law, perform a cash-flow analysis.

District 3 has issued TAW's the last few years. Last year's TAW cost the district $37K. This year's TAW is expected to cost the district $32K, even though the district is issuing TAW's for far fewer dollars than last year. The similarity in fees is due to changes in market conditions since last year, including higher interest rates.

At last month's Board Meeting, Supt. Jackie Krause said that the district has enough money in the bank to get through April, and may have enough to get through May, but that the comfort zone is not there. She said the district should issue TAW's now because, if a deficit is encountered in the budget, and the cash flow doesn't look as good as it does now, the district may not be able to secure as favorable an interest rate. She said that one extra student or need can throw a budget off track.

Middle School Activity Fees -- Possible Increases to be be discussed at Monday Night's Meeting

Middle School Activity Fees are on the agenda for the Monday, April 20 Board Meeting. Residents who would like to comment on Activity Fees will have the chance to do so during Public Comment at the beginning of the meeting, at 7:00 pm, in the library of the Middle School.

After the referendum was approved, the Board, in making promised budget cuts, heavily increased fees for extracurricular activities. In doing so, the Board said that each extracurricular activity would need to be self-funding.

As Supt. Jackie Krause said in the February 27 Board Meeting, an investigation of how fees stack up against costs of activities came when some parents suggested that the fees were too high, and may be offsetting other more expensive activities, or activities with lower participation. Each activity is intended to be funded within itself.

An analysis of the fees showed that a few activities were collecting fees in excess of their operating costs, but many other activities, sports most notably, collected fees at or under their operating costs. Also, transportation costs are not factored into the operating costs. Add these costs in, and the activity fees overall come about $3000 short of activity costs overall.

Dr. Krause further noted that, for the next school year, the State has warned that $12K or more from the transportation funds received by District 3.

This started a conversation as to what it means for an activity to be "self-funded". Does it include transportation costs? Is "close" good enough? What was promised to the community?

Vice-President Doris Sadik said that it won't look good to the community if the Board does not make sure each activity is completely self-funded. She said that taxpayers will look at it as their tax dollars paying for the activities.

Board Member Steve Knar said the the District is doing the community a favor by keeping the activity fees from increasing any more. He said that he doesn't want to spend more money than the District has, and he understands the need for fiscal discipline, but he just can't support raising fees at this time.

Middle School Principal Dr. Tim Mahaffy noted that the number of students drives the cost-per-student for each activity, and said that the next three years will bring smallest classess entering the Middle School in some time.

Board Member Tom Mollet wondered how close the activities could come to paying for themselves and still be able to call themselves self-funded.

A decision on what to do about the fees is expected to be made at the March 20 Board Meeting.