Big Hike In York High's Sports Fees?

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst School District 205 officials are proposing a new way to assess fees for York High School's athletes, possibly resulting in big increases.

In recent years, the district has capped athletic fees at $400 in a school year. But the district is recommending doing away with the cap and waiving fees for a student's third sport in a year.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, Chris Whelton, the district's assistant superintendent of finance, said the $400 cap was cumbersome and involved difficult calculations for each student.

"It led to some mistakes and miscommunications," Whelton said. "It's complicated because you have different costs."

The fees for York sports are divided into four tiers. With a fee of $100, the lowest cost tier includes cross country, tennis and track. The highest cost tier's fee is $275, consisting of three sports – football, basketball and golf.

If a student plays two higher-cost sports, the family's fee would increase by $150 under the new system, a nearly 40 percent hike. Students choosing a high-cost sport in combination with one from the second or third tiers would also see a sizable increase.

"That's a chunk of money being pushed back onto the family," board member Courtenae Trautmann said.

Member Karen Stuefen suggested the district revisit the issue of the costs of each sport.

"Some of the sports are really expensive, and some of them aren't," she said. "I just want to make sure that we're looking at that from an equity standpoint for all students."

Students who are from low-income families get fee waivers.

The board did not vote on the proposed fees.