Students charged for school activities;

     Free is free, right? Public schools have provided free education and free extracurricular activities for a greater portion of the 20th and 21st centuries. To date, education is still provided without charge, but no longer can one participate in after school activities without charge.

     On June 10, 2013, Harford County Public Schools Board of Education approved athletic and activity fees for students in elementary, middle and high school to offset fees such as coach salaries and transportation fees. HCPS is now charging students $50 each season to play a school sport and $25 for extracurricular activities which require a stipend for the sponsor

     It is obvious that HCPS is looking for ways to offset the budget without laying off more positions or cutting more school activities, and it is understandable that they test out new methods of doing so. Health care costs are rising and budget cuts must be made somewhere to compensate.

     However, is it necessary that the students themselves are charged? This method of making money for the school system will only hurt the students. Only students who qualify and use their free or reduced lunch, students who have a parent who is employed as a teacher under contract with Harford County Public Schools, and students who have a parent who is on active military duty can receive waivers to avoid payment of these fees (hcps.org). Even needy families who qualify for a waiver for the fees may not have access to a computer to fill out required online paperwork for a waiver.

     The thousands of dollars collected from the families of HCPS students will not be going to the student’s school, but will be directed to the entire school system budget. This raises questions of what the money is actually being used for, as it is not directly helping the student’s school.

     The scary thing about these fees is that they are just the beginning of HCPS’ attempt at getting their budget together. What else will this “public” school system charge students for 10 years from now?

     As reported in daggerpress.com, Board Member Cassandra Beverley said, “This is just the beginning…We are going to look under every rock we can… we may be charging for other things.”

     Beverley added that these are results of “desperate times.” But when are these times going to end? Many teaching positions have been cut already and funding of elective classes has decreased. The school system needs to look elsewhere for budget cuts.

     Instead of requiring set fees to be paid to the county, maybe the sports teams themselves should be responsible for paying a portion of transportation fees and referee fees. These could be paid for through fundraising and donations. Clubs could also participate in fundraising to contribute towards costs. This fundraising would go directly to the team or club itself and would give students experience with fundraising and business. HCPS must not forget that sports teams and drama productions also raise money for themselves through ticket revenues.

     Pay to play and activity fees are unreasonable ways of making up budget deficits. They came about too suddenly for HCPS families to assent them. Public schools need to be kept free so that this precedent of charging students to get more money is not worsened.