The School Committee voted a 10 percent drop Tuesday in the fees the district charges for participation in athletics, a move which interim Superintendent Joseph Connelly says will put Harvard closer to the middle of the pack of area districts.
In a survey Connelly prepared of the “user fees” charged at 30 local or similar districts, Harvard ranked first in the sports fees category, topping out at $435 for a season of varsity or junior varsity basketball. The second-ranked district, Tyngsboro, has a top fee of $400. Harvard’s cheapest sport, cross country, at $285 for a season, is still high enough for seventh place on Connelly’s list.
Studying user fees was one of the School Committee’s goals for this school year. Connelly completed his survey several months ago, but the issue came up on a meeting agenda only this week.
This year, Connelly said, revenue from athletic fees is about $250,000. Subtracting 10 percent from that equals the $25,000 salary of the part-time athletic director, Pam Alexander. The athletic director’s salary was shifted from the athletic user fee revolving fund to the operating budget for fiscal 2013.
“I’m quite confident that if you do vote to reduce the use fee by 10 percent, that $25,000 in lost revenue is covered by the operating budget,” Connelly told the School Commitee Tuesday. “The rationale we put into this several months ago does make sense.”
At the top end, cutting the varsity basketball fee 10 percent and rounding it to the nearest $5 increment puts it at $395. Ten percent off the cross country fee would put it at $250.
Connelly acknowledged that, even with the 10 percent cut, Harvard would still be near the top of his survey, but, he said, “You at least lowered it five or six notches out of 30 towns.”
School Committee member Patricia Wenger called the cut “a step in the right direction.”
Committee Chairman SusanMary Redinger asked if Harvard offers a cap on fees for families with multiple children participating in athletics. Connelly replied it does not, although many school systems do.
“When you implement a cap, you have to calculate what the lost revenue will be, as we did with this,” he said.
The School Committee vote was unanimous, with member Keith Cheveralls absent. The district will inform families of the new fee schedule before the last day of school, Connelly said. Students enroll in fall sports over the summer.
“To be able to tell people their costs are going down, nowadays, does not happen a lot,” Redinger said.
