High school and middle school athletic fees will increase next school year in the Oak Harbor School District for students participating in after-school sports, but the increase will be less than originally proposed.
District officials had asked to charge high school athletes $100 per player, per sport next year, a sharp increase from the $75 fee that covered all sports last year.
Under the new fee schedule adopted by the school board, high school athletes will pay $100 to participate in one sport, $50 for participating in two sports, and no extra fee if the student-athlete plays three sports. That effectively doubles the old fee of $75 for athletes who play two or more sports.
In addition, athletes must purchase an ASB card which will cost $35 next year, a $5 increase from the 2007-08 fee.
If the original proposal of $100 per sport had remained in place, Oak Harbor athletes would have had the highest pay-to-play fee of any school in the WesCo Conference.
By comparison, Cascade High School athletes pay $50 for the entire year and Stanwood and Lake Stevens athletes pay $40 for the year.
However, Cascade and Lake Stevens are looking at increasing ASB fees, so those amounts may increase before the new school year begins.
At Marysville-Pilchuck, athletes pay $80 to play one sport, $120 for two sports and $160 for three.
Snohomish athletes pay $115 to play one sport and $190 for two. Three-sport athletes at Snohomish aren’t charged to participate in the third sport.
At Coupeville High School, athletes pay $50 per sport and a one-time $30 fee for an ASB card.
Oak Harbor Athletic Director Nikki Luper said the majority of athletic expenses go to pay for transportation costs, and with diesel costing over $4 a gallon that’s a challenge. The district is exploring ways to reduce the amount of money being spent.
“One of the things we are looking at is if a junior varsity or freshman game has to be canceled for some reason, the game would not be rescheduled,” she said. “Of course we would reschedule varsity games, we would have to.”
Luper said the school district checked “what everyone else in the WesCo was charging,” before making the original $100 per sport proposal.
“Even with the reduced fees, we will still be one of the highest in the conference,” she said of Oak Harbor.
Luper stressed that the school has several programs in place to assist students who might have problems paying athletic fees.
“We want to keep kids involved in athletics here at Oak Harbor. We don’t want anybody left out,” she said.
At Oak Harbor’s two middle schools there are four seasons during the school year.
Athletes will be charged $75 for participating in one sport and $35 for the second. Athletes can take part in the third and fourth sports for no extra charge. A $15 ASB card is also required at the middle schools.
