HWRHS in Wall Street Journal

As editor Bobby Gates reported earlier, The Wall Street Journal ran a national story on the increased number of schools districts that charge students to participate in sports, extracurricular activities and in some cases, certain classes. While the article focused on a school system in Medina, Ohio where budget shortfalls have prompted the high school to charge students fees, HWRHS was cited in a chart outlining fees charged by a sampling of schools around the country.

Public schools across the country, struggling with cuts in state funding, rising personnel costs and lower tax revenues, are shifting costs to students and their parents by imposing or boosting fees for everything from enrolling in honors English to riding the bus.

At high schools in several states, it can cost more than $200 just to walk in the door, thanks to registration fees, technology fees and unspecified "instructional fees."

Local residents who think our situation at HWRHS is unique, consider this from the article:

Nationally, district after district has eliminated or cut enrichment programs for gifted students, help for struggling readers, advanced math and science courses, music, art, foreign languages, drama, sports. Some have tried asking local residents to approve higher taxes, only to be shot down at the polls. So administrators say fees are the only way to stave off even more drastic cuts.

The reporter of this story, Stephanie Simon, conducted a live chat today with readers and I was fortunate to have been able to participate. Though I didn't really get the answer I was looking for, here is the exchange:

Comment From Jeff: Glad to see this topic covered. I live in the Hamilton-Wenham district (noted in article sidebar) and have had to pay thousands of dollars over the years for my kid's activities. I know of families where kids chose to not compete in sports because of the fees. It's a tough situation to be in but what are our choices? No one wants to deprive their kids of the experiences HS should afford them, but there has got to be limit. What can parents do in a district like ours to initiate change?

What impact is this trend having on student participation? It's a mixed bag, according to the WSJ article.

Coaches across the country say that parents of star athletes and performers usually find the money to participate. But they’re seeing a huge drop-off in participation among less-skilled students who may join a team or club simply because it’s fun, or because they want to feel like they belong. They’re also seeing drops in participation in unfamiliar sports, like wrestling, which many students try out for the first time in high school.

Here is the list of fees listed in the article for HWRHS:

Hamilton-Wenham High Regional High School -- South Hamilton, Mass. 

Football -- $864 

Volleyball -- $537 

Baseball -- $591 

Girls tennis -- $372 

Boys tennis -- $239 

Literary Magazine -- $85 

World language club -- $71 

School musical -- $200