The Park City School District has already waived mandatory and academic fees for students in an effort to reduce education barriers. Board member Meredith Reed said this spurred the State Board of Education to remove mandatory and academic fees for all Utah schools.
Now the board is looking into reducing fees for extracurricular activities. Fees for extracurriculars for the 2025 fiscal year had increases from $5 for basketball players to $415 for cheerleaders traveling to nationals. While families can apply for a fee waiver and get scholarships to cover athletic fees, some board members were worried about extracurricular accessibility.
Board member Wendy Crossland said the board should consider using part of the district budget to help pay athletic fees.
“Asking any family to have to ask for a waiver is prohibitive, right off the bat, even from wanting to try out.”
Board member Nicholas Hill said he also had a problem with asking one child to pay thousands of dollars to participate in sports, while another child would pay only $100 to $200.
“I understand that different activities cost different amounts of money," he said. "But to the kids participating, the value is the same.”
Board member Andrew Caplan agreed the cost of athletics can be somewhat prohibitive and said having a participation fee could be a better option.
“Maybe it's a flat fee, and instead of $1,000 to play golf or $1,500 to be on the cheerleading team, you know, each kid pays $50 or $100,” he said.
Caplan said when he was in school, he wouldn’t have been able to play sports if equipment wasn’t provided. He also mentioned the benefits of sports.
“For anyone who plays sports, it keeps you out of trouble, it gives you more discipline, focus,” Caplan said. “I am a huge fan of students’ success through athletics as well as academics.”
The board also discussed fees relating to food. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Caplan said the district was able to provide food to kids for free thanks to federal grants. Now, he said the board should consider providing breakfast for all students as well as lunch.
“We have a community where a lot of kids rely on the nutrition services that we provide, you know, for their sustenance and nutrition, and we learned that the hard way through COVID,” Caplan said.
The district anticipates spending between $1.4 million and $1.5 million in fees this academic year.
The district will hold another public hearing at its next board meeting on March 19. All fees for the 2024 to 2025 school year must be approved by April 1.
