Harford schools' pay-to-play fees up for review as next year's budget is developed

The controversial &quot;pay-to-play&quot; fees charged to Harford County Public Schools students to participate in sports and drama will be under scrutiny this year as school officials prepare their next budget.The $100 fee to pay interscholastic athletics or participate in drama programs has been controversial from its inception three years ago, prompting student and parent protests and unfavorable comparisons with other school districts that don't have such charges.&quot;During this upcoming budget process, we will be taking a close look at the participation fee issue; I just wanted to make that clear to everybody,&quot; Joe Voskuhl, vice president of the Board of Education, said during a board meeting Monday evening.Voskuhl, however, declined to elaborate Wednesday, other than to say: &quot;We're looking at it.&quot;Students pay a $100 drama fee to participate in their school's drama productions throughout the school year. The fee is only assessed on students &quot;who appear on stage in a performing role,&quot; not those who are part of the band or orchestra, the stage crew, technical crew or are directors, according to the HCPS website.Student-athletes pay $100 per season, or $200 for more than two seasons, to play varsity or junior varsity sports. Students who take part in one sport and at least one drama production pay $200.&quot;The maximum any student would be required to pay in a given year would be $200,&quot; according to Harford County Public Schools website.The school board instituted a $50 pay-to-play sports fee in 2013. A participation fee for all extracurricular activities was instituted that year, too, but it has since been dropped.It was Voskuhl who proposed doubling the sports fee and adding the $100 drama fee as the board held its final deliberations in June on this year's budget.He is a retired Bel Air High School principal who was one of five new elected and appointed members who joined the school board in 2015.Voskuhl proposed the fees in order to support athletic and drama programs, as well as to raise some revenue to offset the costs of keeping the school system's aging pools open and preserving the high school swimming program for one year.Harford County students gathered outside the school system's headquarters in Bel Air Monday to sing in protest against the school's pay-to-play fees. (David Anderson, Baltimore Sun Media Group)The school board later approved using money from the operating fund balance, or cash reserves, to keep the pools open.School officials have said previously that money raised through fees goes to the school system's general operating budget.The drama fee, which was approved without time for public comment, has been denounced by students who take part in productions, as well as their parents, teachers and community supporters.Their most recent public protest was in front of the Harford County Courthouse in downtown Bel Air on the evening of Oct. 10, after which many of the participants marched to the school headquarters less than a block away.School board members spent hours during meetings in June and earlier this month hearing protests about the fee's negative impact on high school drama programs, but they have not yet taken action to rescind it.Advocates for ending the fee have said it has discouraged students from taking part in drama, and they have noted that productions are largely self-funded with money raised by students and their families.The matter has even come to the attention of state legislators. Del. Mary Ann Lisanti asked Voskuhl about pay-to-play fees during a pre-legislative session meeting with school officials in late September.&quot;Personally, I wish we didn't have to charge fees but we're in a situation, if we [want] to keep these programs going we need the income,&quot; Voskuhl said at that meeting.School officials had to close a $20 million gap between revenues and expenses when approving this year's budget – the adopted operating budget is $438.6 million.Officials expect a gap of more than $14.6 million in next year's operating budget, with $439.6 million in revenue, compared to $454.3 million in expenditures.The drama fee is expected to raise about $50,000 in revenue, based on school system projections of about 500 students participating.The public is encouraged to give its input as the budget is developed over the coming months.&quot;There are always issues in our budget, and the more information and the more perspective we can get from those people in our community, the better off we're all going to be,&quot; school board member Robert Frisch said during Monday's board meeting, where two members from the public spoke briefly about budget concerns.Josh Bulavko, an Edgewood High School swimmer whose online petition at Change.org to save HCPS swimming has gained 4,720 supporters, warned that &quot;swimming was just the first sport or activity to be threatened for budgetary concerns&quot; and &quot;other cuts may soon be proposed.&quot;&quot;This fact should scare every student and adult in this county,&quot; he said.He also spoke out about swimming during a Harford County Council meeting Oct. 18 where, joined by his father, he warned that swimming and the pools might not be safe in the next budget.Hazel Morgan, a Joppatowne resident and former president of the Joppatowne Recreation Council, urged the school board members to fully fund Joppatowne High School capital improvements and programs.She noted Joppatowne does not have a community center for youth recreation programs and said the idea of pay-to-play fees for school activities &quot;disturbs me to no end.&quot;&quot;Athletics, drama, band, swimming, all of this is the only thing we have to offer in Joppatowne for our children,&quot; Morgan said.Comments made during Monday's board meeting were recorded on video of the meeting posted on the HCPS website.Aegis News Editor Allan Vought contributed to this report.

Harford schools' pay-to-play fees up for review as next year's budget is developed

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