Dear Editor: WHS Activity Fees

Dear Editor,

The school board recently voted to establish a $100 activity fee for each middle school and high school athlete/participant per season, including fall, winter, and spring activities. Please know that this decision was not made lightly. I intend to provide a comprehensive background regarding this decision.

Three years prior, the account to fund extracurricular activities started depleting itself more than was being funded. Our previous clerk had informed the board of this concern. The activity fee was raised to $90 per year per athlete at that time. As the fund was continually being monitored, this increase, plus fundraising and gate fees, was still not making ends meet. Total revenue from activities fees generated $16,120 last school year, while the costs totaled $47,720.

It is important to note that the extracurricular fund is not funded by the taxpayers because there is no funding from the general fund. Activities are funded by the student account activity fund. Revenue is generated from activity fees, fundraising, and gate fees at events. When Golden Sunlight Mine was fully operational, the districts had funding that was used for various purposes, including some funding for extracurricular activities. There have been no payments from this source since 2019.

Extracurricular activities are opportunities provided to students to enrich their academic and life skills learning. These activities are valued by the school, as they tend to motivate students to perform better in school and align with our core values surrounding our Portrait of a Graduate. However, these opportunities do have costs related to them. For example, the average official for one home football game is $491. Whitehall Schools hosted six home games last fall. On average, officials for a home volleyball event are $388, with eight events being hosted last season. The cost of travel has also shown its impact on our school district. Travel for our football team to Eureka alone was $2,908. While not all events require the team to travel as far, it is easy to see that the total expenses were $8,425 after six travel games in the season. Football is one example, but all activities have similar expenses.

Below is the cost per student in each respective sport/activity:

Cross country $439

Football $147

Volleyball $270

MS Football/MS Volleyball $98

Basketball $92

MS Basketball $123

Wrestling $709

Track $199

Golf $410

Cheerleading $21

As you can see, some activities have a higher cost associated with them due to the fact that there are fewer students in those sports, but there is still a high cost associated with travel, officiating, and meals. If we collectively look at all extracurricular activities for the 2023-2024 school year, the average cost to the district was $180 per student per sport.

However, we must keep the cost for each participant equal across activities, thus increasing the activity fee for all.

The total cost of all activities last school year was $44,720. The new activity fee schedule is estimated to cover $28,700. The estimated deficit remaining is $16,020, not including likely price increases in some areas.

The account balance of the student activity fund is currently $21,300. This will theoretically cover all costs for next year but only leave an estimated $5,280 in the activity fund. The following year, we would need to start utilizing the general fund to cover the costs, as the activity fee will only cover two-thirds of the expenses. This requires adjusting costs elsewhere in the budget, including wages and salary, equipment, instructional supplies, and building maintenance. The goal is to sustain funding without using the general fund to continue providing diverse opportunities to our students in our relatively small school district. The activity fee is a step towards chipping away at the financial situation without cutting extracurricular activities.

We still have work, as this change in activity fee still does not cover the entire cost. However, the board was also not in favor of raising the cost too much to prevent students from the opportunity to participate.

During the June board meeting, a presentation was also made regarding a platform to facilitate crowdfunding for students to help raise this money without the entire burden going to parents. An app called Snap! Raise Mobile will allow students to text or email twenty recipients to ask for a donation of any value to support their extracurricular endeavors. This is quite successful for many other school districts nationwide. We encourage and ask parents to facilitate this set-up in August to make this successful for our students.

Additionally, the school has an Angel Fund to help pay for school meal costs and activity fees for disadvantaged students. Donations for this fund are always appreciated and may be sent to the district clerk. People can also inquire about this fund at any time by contacting the school.

The bottom line is that we need more funding to provide opportunities for our students. We are also encouraging our students to become involved in the process. Extracurricular events are a privilege, not a right. Encourage your kids to be active participants in the Snap! Mobile fundraiser and continued fundraising events to learn the value of earning the privilege to participate and compete.

Let's all be team players and support each other as we tackle this to ensure continued opportunities for our kids.

Jenelle White

Whitehall Schools Board Trustee