New Hampshire's Virtual Town Hall
Will pay-to-play be the New Hampshire way?
(The following article appeared in the Feb. 7 edition of the Nashua Telegraph. It's written by Michael Brindley.)
Before they can take the field or skate out on the rink, many New Hampshire student- athletes and their families are being asked to shell out a fee to help cover the cost of school district sports.
Commonly referred to as pay-to-play, roughly one-third of high schools across the state have implemented some type of fee for students who choose to play sports, especially those with a higher per-player cost, said Patrick Corbin, director of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association.
According to a survey of 92 NHIAA member schools in the fall of 2008, 32 were charging students to play sports, Corbin said. The sport that students were most frequently charging to play was ice hockey, which is typically the most expensive sport for a school to run. Of the 32 schools using pay-to-play, 20 were charging a fee for ice hockey, Corbin said.
Corbin couldn’t say whether there are more schools implementing pay-to-play, but it’s definitely being discussed more often, especially given tight school budgets.
“As is often the case in Massachusetts, it’s often the more affluent communities that will do it because the parents in the communities are used to paying,” Corbin said.
Such is the case at Souhegan High School in Amherst, where students are charged $100 per sport, with a family cap of $400. Business Administrator Elizabeth Shankel didn’t know for how long the district has been charging, but said the fee was increased this year because of budget issues.
Souhegan also has one of the lowest poverty rates among high schools in the state, with only 4 percent of its students eligible for the federal free or reduced lunch program. In Nashua, where the free or reduced eligibility rate is nearing 40 percent, the idea of looking at a pay-to-play system has been brought up by some members of the Board of Education during discussions about the budget. However, there haven’t been any formal motions or votes to do so.
Before they can take the field or skate out on the rink, many New Hampshire student- athletes and their families are being asked to shell out a fee to help cover the cost of school district sports.
Commonly referred to as pay-to-play, roughly one-third of high schools across the state have implemented some type of fee for students who choose to play sports, especially those with a higher per-player cost, said Patrick Corbin, director of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association.
According to a survey of 92 NHIAA member schools in the fall of 2008, 32 were charging students to play sports, Corbin said. The sport that students were most frequently charging to play was ice hockey, which is typically the most expensive sport for a school to run. Of the 32 schools using pay-to-play, 20 were charging a fee for ice hockey, Corbin said.
Corbin couldn’t say whether there are more schools implementing pay-to-play, but it’s definitely being discussed more often, especially given tight school budgets.
“As is often the case in Massachusetts, it’s often the more affluent communities that will do it because the parents in the communities are used to paying,” Corbin said.
Such is the case at Souhegan High School in Amherst, where students are charged $100 per sport, with a family cap of $400. Business Administrator Elizabeth Shankel didn’t know for how long the district has been charging, but said the fee was increased this year because of budget issues.
Souhegan also has one of the lowest poverty rates among high schools in the state, with only 4 percent of its students eligible for the federal free or reduced lunch program. In Nashua, where the free or reduced eligibility rate is nearing 40 percent, the idea of looking at a pay-to-play system has been brought up by some members of the Board of Education during discussions about the budget. However, there haven’t been any formal motions or votes to do so.
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