Budgets Shrinking In Indiana, Schools Moving Toward Pay-To-Play

May 11, 2012 /
The Indianpolis Star, Mark Ambrogi

http://www2.wjtv.com/lifestyles/2012/may/11/more-schools-turn-to-sports-fees-as-budgets-shrink-ar-3774031/

Ellie Balbach led the Mt. Vernon High School volleyball team in kills, was a key reserve for a state championship finalist in basketball and is a top pitcher and leading hitter for the softball team.

Think a price can’t be put on those experiences and memories?

Increasingly, high schools have had to do just that.

For Balbach, it’s $715 to play the three sports. Public school budgets were hit hard by the recession that began in 2007. In December 2009, Indiana cut $300 million from the education budget, causing many school districts to scramble to compensate for the shortfall.

Mt. Vernon began charging athletes $225 per sport this school year, in addition to a previous, once-a-year $40 transportation fee. It accounts for $99,900 of the $141,161 the school spent on coaching stipends this year, according to athletic director Greg Roach.

“We try to look at our kids’ participation as an investment in one way or another,” said Barb Balbach, Ellie Balbach’s mother. “We’re constantly (making sacrifices) for our kids to be able to do all the athletics. Her dad and I think there is a lot of value in sports. She decided to play softball in college, so hopefully that will pay off.”

While Mt. Vernon’s fee is among the highest in the Indianapolis area, it is hardly unique. A handful of schools began charging eight years ago, with 40 percent now requiring a fee ranging from $10 to $300. Most use the money for transportation, while others use it to pay for stipends or athletic department expenses. A total of nearly $1.2 million was raised this year. Athletic directors see no end to the fees, with several local schools also charging to participate in middle school or junior high athletics.

Mt. Vernon is the only area school that reported a drop in participation — 15 percent, according to Roach — in a survey of athletic administrators by The Indianapolis Star. However, participation statewide has dropped in two out of three years since 2007-08, according to information on the National Federation of High School Associations’ website.

“I do think (participation fees) have caused a decision to be made by parents and students that they may not participate,” said Indiana High School Athletic Association Commissioner Bobby Cox. “I think there are situations where families are trying to make ends meet, they’re getting charged a couple of hundred dollars, and they’re going to decide it is something they can’t do. I think those are isolated cases, but I do believe they are occurring.”

The 40 percent of Indianapolis-area teams charging a fee reflects a nationwide trend, according to Up2Us, an organization that provides support to youth sports programs across the country. According to its research, $1.5 billion was cut from school sports budgets in 2010-11 after $2 billion was cut the previous school year.

“We’re seeing it grow and grow and grow,” said Megan Bartlett, the director of the Center for Sports-Based Youth Development for Up2Us. “As sports are becoming more and more privatized, it’s become something only available to people that can afford it or only to those identified as elite athletes. With the health crisis, with the failing school systems, with the violence and gang persecutions in communities, they need these positive things.”

Some argue sports shouldn’t be treated any differently than other extracurricular activities, which traditionally have required a fee. Some schools charge a nominal fee to join a club and require students to cover any travel expenses. Activities such as band or show choir often exceed the current athletic fees.

Up2Us, however, points to research on the cost-effective benefits of sports. According to a 2006 article in the Suffolk University Law Review, athletics total just 1 percent to 3 percent of school budgets, with 60 percent to 70 percent of the students participating in at least one sport.

Further research indicates sports can have significant health and academic benefits. According to a 2009 survey of children’s health by www.childtrends.com, non-athletes are 60 percent more likely to be overweight at a time when obesity in children is increasing. Sports also can be an effective means to keep kids from dropping out, improve grades and keep students more engaged in school, according to studies cited by Up2Us.

“(Superintendent Eugene White knows) the role that (athletics) can play in assisting kids in getting to new positive situations in their life, getting them to college and allowing them to be successful in their futures,” said Victor Bush, director of athletics for Indianapolis Public Schools. “That is basically why we don’t have ’pay for play’ or transportation fees.”

Local schools continue to search for ways to maintain participation or avoid the fees. Most offer alternatives for athletes who can’t afford them, providing fundraising opportunities to cover a portion of the costs or making provisions for students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Noblesville has a $100 fee per sport, up to a $400 family maximum. The school held a fundraiser with raffle tickets to win a car; if an athlete sold 20 $10 tickets, he or she got a $100 credit toward the fee.

“We’re not big fans of (the fees),” athletic director Michael Hasch said. “We have to do our job to make sure kids still have the (necessary) amenities. We’re doing our best to cut it 50 percent next year or just cut it out completely. We’re doing everything in our power as an athletic department and school district to cut this down.”

Lapel athletic director Jimmie Howell has avoided fees by creating the Bulldog Partners in Athletics — 30 to 40 small businesses that donate $400 each — and hasn’t had to cut any coaching positions or salaries. Center Grove avoided athletic participation fees — which had been set at $170 per sport at the high school and $85 in middle school — when Indianapolis-area auto dealer Ray Skillman made a $1.1 million agreement over five years for naming rights to the football field and advertising at the school district’s sports venues.

“We don’t have to worry about it until the 2016-17 school year, and hopefully by then the finances of the state will be under control,” Center Grove athletic director Jon Zwitt said.

Few schools have those kinds of resources, however.

Some districts have tried — and failed — to pass referendums. Other schools have cut coaching positions and salaries and have required coaches to pay for their own clinics to avoid charging students to participate.

“We’ve taken our belt buckles and squeezed it,” North Central assistant athletic director Paul Loggan said.

Expect the number of schools charging fees to continue to grow and more families to have to make sacrifices for their children to play high school sports.

Karen and Dave Pierce use the money they earn from second jobs to pay the $410 it costs their daughter, Erin Pierce, to participate in basketball and softball at Franklin Central.

“That helps us defray some of the cost of the athletic fees,” said Karen Pierce, who helps on a freelance basis with Indiana Pacers broadcasts while her husband earns extra money as a softball umpire. “She has been playing sports since she was 3 years old, so it goes for whatever she was playing.

“We are lucky we have an only child. I couldn’t imagine if we had more what else we would have to sacrifice.”


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