| Author | Post |
|---|
Joey Airdo
Member
| Joined: | Tue Jan 9th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 1073 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 28th, 2008 03:58 pm |
|
School board doubles sports fees
Hike accompanies extracurricular budget cuts
By Joey Airdo
Independent Newspapers
Parents of Cave Creek Unified School District students will have to dig a little deeper into their pockets next year if their children want to participate in any extracurricular activities.
As a result of CCUSD’s $2.2 million shortfall, governing board members April 22 approved 4-3 increases to parking, athletic and club fees at the district’s high school and middle schools.
The increase was necessary in order to recover funds traditionally provided by the district. The CCUSD Governing Board pulled $295,000 in one-time contingency funds to help balance the district’s budget, but still needed to make cuts in a number of other areas — including $85,147 in extracurricular activities funding.
The largest increase is to athletic fees at the high school level. Traditionally, students who wanted to participate in sports at Cactus Shadows High School, 5802 E. Dove Valley Road, had to shell out $150 per sport. Now, they will have to come up with twice that amount — $300 per sport — if they want to play. High school athletic fees have a $900 per family cap.
Meanwhile, parents of children who attend Sonoran Trails Middle School, 5555 E. Pinnacle Vista Drive, or Desert Arroyo Middle School, 33401 N. 56th St., will have to pay $100 per sport, up from a $75 athletic fee.
Although club fees also received a boost, the change is not quite as dramatic. Students who have traditionally spent $75 per school year to participate in as many clubs as they chose will now have that $75 fee charged for each club membership.
High school parking fees also increased from $75 to $100.
CSHS Principal Sid Bailey, who presented the fee increase to the CCUSD Governing Board with Athletic Director Monica Barrett, said the group of extracurricular activities are one of CSHS’s points of pride.
“We’re as serious as a heart attack about keeping them afloat,” Mr. Bailey said. “Our whole goal is to not deprive any student.”
While none of the governing board members expressed feelings of admiration toward the fee increases, some were strongly opposed to them.
Member Marvin Christensen, Ph.D. asked if the increases would have an adverse effect on any clubs or sports teams.
“I’m not a prophet, but it’s not going to help,” Mr. Bailey responded. “It’s certainly going to have an impact but to what degree, I don’t know. Our charge is to balance the budget.”
Dr. Christensen was not satisfied.
“I believe we are running dangerously close to the point where we’re going to so discourage participation in some of these clubs and activities that they will disappear and deprive kids who really have no other place to participate in life outside of the classroom,” he said.
Member Susan Clancy added some families may be unable to afford the new fees, forcing children who have traditionally been a part of a club or sports team to opt out of the experience in the 2008-09 school year.
However, member Gladys Styles Johnston understands the need for the increases.
“The shortfall has ripple effects that will be felt like an earthquake ... for many more weeks and months to come,” she explained. “I don’t think we really know the difficulty and depth of some of the cuts that were made.”
Ms. Johnston added the community should help CCUSD and its students by developing ways to raise the necessary funds to support areas affected by the shortfall.
“Now is the time for us to come together as a community as a whole supporting the educational enterprise in this town,” she explained. “We cannot do this just as a board or as a school district. It takes each and every [person] who resides in this area to step up and get involved.”
One of the potential solutions board members discussed was to revisit CCUSD’s policies with respect to business sponsorships.
Member Casey Perkins said the board is committed to giving schools the ability to obtain funding through sponsorships with the community’s businesses.
Registered members are encouraged to comment on this topic by clicking “reply” in the upper right corner of this entry. Comments posted online may be used in an upcoming edition of the North Scottsdale Independent. For more news, visit http://circulation.newszap.com to purchase an e-Subscription. As an e-Subscriber, you will be able to view the actual newspaper pages online, including every story, feature, advertisement and photo.
|
Current time is 11:40 am | |
|
|
|