Sep 22, 2008 7:29 pm US/Eastern
Area Schools Now Charging Students Athletics Fees
SOMERS, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Several tri-state schools are now beginning to charge athletic fees to make up for their budget shortfalls, but not all parents are as upset as one might expect. (File)
Should high school students pay to play sports?
Several tri-state schools are now beginning to charge athletic fees to make up for their budget shortfalls, but not all parents are as upset as one might expect.
After school sports are a proven way to help children grow, stay healthy, and learn. But to keep the ball rolling, schools like Kennedy Catholic High school in Somers are charging parents hundreds of dollars in fees for their kids to play.
"I think what you are seeing here at Kennedy and any other school is what's going on in the economy at large is impacting what we do here," says Mark Vaillancourt, President of Kennedy Catholic.
In New York state, it's illegal for public schools to charge students a fee to play sports, but private or parochial schools can.
"They do have a significant cost on our budget," admits Vaillancourt.
Kennedy Catholic has more than 600 students and over 30 sports teams which cost the school about $100,000 a year. Depending on the sport, parents will have to pay anywhere from $100 to $300 dollars per child, per sport, taking on 30 percent of the sports programs' budget.
"I'm not happy about paying extra money. Obviously none of us have extra money, but what are we gonna do?" says Diane Infantino, whose child attends Kennedy Catholic.
In New Jersey, some public school districts have already started making students pay if they want to play. But most parents we spoke to, already pay $6,500 in tuition and didn't see the new fee as a difficult burden, just a sign of our hard economic times.
"We support the school and our daughter's participation in it, so we didn't actually have a problem with it. We understand times are tough," says Christine Spreitzer, a parent at a Kennedy Catholic.
Parents will be given a break if their children play a fall sport and another in the spring. Kennedy Catholic will only charge them for one.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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