High school athletic fees to increase this fall

Date: 3/1/2011

Feb. 28, 2011

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW — Families of students interested in playing high school sports will see a hike in athletics user fees, starting next school year.

According to East Longmeadow Superintendent of Schools Gordon Smith, the fee to play a sport will increase from $129 to $149 after a recent vote by the school department's athletic subcommittee.

"We were looking at the budget projections and we were looking at an athletic budget deficit of $20,000," Smith said. "We looked at surrounding towns in similar situations and looked at what it would take to get above the deficit and this is the number that worked."

Smith told Reminder Publications that the athletic sub-committee took into account the cost of transportation, coaches, officials, as well as league fees and supplies and equipment, among other factors, while calculating the budget.

Smith added that the fee, which will increase starting in the fall of the 2011-12 school year, is still lower than the user fees in neighboring Longmeadow and Wilbraham.

Students participating in spring sports this year will be asked to pay $129.

The athletic subcommittee looked at several different options, including a tiered system in which a child playing a sport with higher operating cost to the district would pay a higher fee, but ultimately decided against such a system.

"There was some discussion on that, but the difficulty with that is it puts a large burden on the parents of students who play more expensive sports," Smith said.

He noted that the school department used to have a tiered system, but switched to a flat rate several years ago, which has been largely successful.

"I think people have enjoyed having just one flat fee for all sports," he said.