CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – The fees you pay to play or participate vary by district, from a few hundred dollars per sport to nothing at all.
“At the high school level, it’s $200 for the first sport and $50 for each sport after that,” said Jeff Casella, Mentor High School athletic director.
Mentor instituted a Pay for Play policy nearly 20 years ago, and in Twinsburg, which has implemented Pay to Participate since budget cuts in 2012, the district calculates it differently.
“That represents 30 percent of the cost of operating our activities, 30 percent of the cost of athletics, 30 percent of the cost of all of our activities,” Twinsburg Schools Superintendent Cathy Powers said.
The 30 percent is up from 25 percent several years ago, and the district caps the amount a family can receive at $500.The fee covers not only sports but also National Honor Society, Model UN, student council, the yearbook and other school events, though it is not as expensive as sports such as football.
“Anything that requires an advisor, a paid advisor, is subject to a fee being charged to students for participation,” Powers said.
About half of Ohio’s school districts have pay-for-play programs, but in districts like Cleveland and Cleveland Heights, where families have tight budgets or where sports are a priority to encourage student participation, the district covers the costs of sports.
“We’re not getting paid to play,” said Joe D’Amato, Cleveland Heights High School athletic director.
“We think it’s really important to have students able to participate in as many sports as possible,” D’Amato continued, “and for some families, we think it just wouldn’t be realistic for them to participate in some sports if we didn’t provide the funding.”
Booster clubs may help with some of the additional costs, but the district will be responsible for paying for equipment, balls, umpires, coaches and transporting kids to games.
“Transportation is a big issue, which means feeding kids is also a big issue,” D’Amato said.
“We have umpires, we have the field staff, we have the equipment to be on the field,” Casella said. “Mentor doesn’t have its own pool, so we pay green fees, we pay for the tennis courts, we pay for the pool.”
“I think $200 is a pretty good deal,” Casella said. “I don’t think it’s going to go away.”
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