Mount Si activity fees see a hike
July 24, 2008
By Laura Geggel
Mount Si High School plans to increase its student activity fees to keep up with the rising price of fuel. The fees, which are currently $75 per sport, would increase to $100 if the school board approves them before the beginning of the fall sports season.
If approved, there would be a cap on how much each student would have to pay. Students participating in more than one sport would not have to pay more than $150 per year, while families with multiple children playing school sports would not have to pay more than $225 per year.
Waivers for free or reduced fees can be obtained from the school.
Mount Si was one of the last high schools in the area to require an activity fee for extracurricular athletics. Greg Hart, associate principal and athletic director at Mount Si High School, said he and the school board were initially hesitant to implement fees for fear of a drop in athletic participation.
After Hart spoke with other districts, parents and students, he proposed the board approve the fees in 2005. Three years later, student participation in sports has actually increased.
“There were questions and concerns about whether participation fees would have a negative impact,” Hart said. “We have not seen that.”
Yet the activity fee, which funds student transportation to sporting events, is falling short of transportation demands.
Transportation Supervisor James Garhart said diesel, which runs school buses, costs a statewide average of $5 per galloon.
“The industry is saying that the price of diesel is going to continue to rise,” said Garhart. “We’re having to look at the cost of the fuel, supplies for maintenance on the buses -because delivery costs are increasing – and our contracting costs.”
The district hires contracting companies to bus students to sporting events if they have no available buses.
“A lot of these trips the high school and middle school are doing are during our route times,” Garhart said.
If the increase in activity fees is approved, Snoqualmie Valley would not be the only school district with an escalating athletics price tag.
Mercer Island School District is increasing its fees from $75 to $175, Northshore School District’s fees are going from $75 to $140 and Issaquah School District’s are changing from $75 to $85. Lake Washington School District’s fees are staying at $75 per sport. Seattle School District is implementing fees for the first time of $50 for one sport and $25 for the second.
Mount Si soccer coach Darren Brown said he didn’t think a higher fee would decrease student participation.
“Everywhere you go, there are costs for students to play these days,” Brown said. “The participation fees that we charge are a lot less than club sports.”
Middle-school students currently do not have to pay an activity fee for athletics, but Hart said that could change in the future. The district is doing its best to deter high transportation fees by organizing middle-school meets with local schools that are only a short commute from Snoqualmie Valley schools.
Reporter Laura Geggel can be reached at 392-6434 x221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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