Central Regional May Charge Minimal Fee for All Sports

Central Regional Board of Education members are reluctantly considering charging a $25 "sports participation and transportation" fee for each sport children play in the coming school year.

"The board wanted it to be as little as possible," schools Business Administrator/Board Secretary Kevin O'Shea said. "It's unfortunate. We felt this was the best way to do it."

If a family has more than one child participating in each sport, the fee will be capped at $150 per family for each sport, he said.

The move was just one of many the board and school district officials took to cope with an made by the five sending towns after portion of the budget on April 27, O'Shea said.

"We want the public to know this is probably the first time a defeated budget has directly hurt kids," he said.

Charging the sports fees will enable the district to keep the late sports bus and help with insurance costs and coaching stipends, he said.

The fee may also extend to certain other student activities. The board will adopt a formal policy within the next several board meetings, before the start of the new school year, O'Shea said.

Also felled by the budget cuts is the annual Central Regional High School spring play. The fall play and several other productions will remain, he said.

"For right now, it is cancelled," O'Shea said.

Central Regional has five sending towns - Berkeley Township, Ocean Gate, Island Heights, Seaside Heights and Seaside Park. Voters in Berkeley Township and Seaside Park defeated the $27,489,152 tax levy portion of the $33,252,531 budget on April 27 by a 101 vote margin.

Four of the towns - Berkeley, Island Heights, Ocean Gate and Seaside Heights — originally agreed to zero cuts in the budget.

But Seaside Park municipal officials held out for much more. They originally suggested $3 million in cuts. It was a number none of the other four towns could live with. Seaside Park later came down to $1.5 million in cuts, then down to $815,239.

The budget voters turned down called for the elimination of 11 employees, including nine teachers and two buildings and grounds employees. Freshman sports and home economics classes were also cut. Those cuts remain, O'Shea said.