School Officials Tally Pay-To-Participate Fees

By Larissa Lytwyn

Last fall, when the school board attempted to bolster revenues in a lean budget by enacting a $40 pay-to-participate fee at Newtown High School originally approved during the summer, it faced student protests over the flat fee’s inequities.

A Drama Club member ushering during one weekend of a production, for example, would pay just as much as the production’s lead actors.

The board ultimately approved Superintendent of Schools’ Evan Pitkoff’s recommendation to eliminate fees for “temporary workers,” including Drama Club ushers, ticket-takers, and makeup artists. The fees were also suspended for Drama Club students who had already begun rehearsals for the fall production, Noises Off when requests for the $40 fee were imparted.

The board hopes to eventually collect $35,000 in high-school generated extracurricular activity fees.

Over December’s holiday recess, high school Principal William Manfredonia assembled a spreadsheet showing how much money students owed based on both the type and number of extracurricular activities they were involved in.

Clubs affected, including the Science Club, Art Club, Color Guard, Marching Band, Drama Club, and Quiz Bowl, are noncharity or school-related.

“The issue is that some clubs raise money through fundraising rather than having each individual student pay,” Mr Manfredonia explained. “These clubs that depend on fundraising have simply been requiring their students to do more of it.”

After collecting funds from club advisors, Mr Manfredonia will automatically deliver the funds to the business office. “Every cent goes to the Town of Newtown,” he assured. “Nothing goes back to the clubs. We don’t hold on to one penny.”

One of the clubs liable for the most fees is the Drama Club.

“Tryouts for the spring production, Les Miserables, were held just before December recess,” Mr Manfredonia said. “We now have a complete list of who is involved in the production.”

Mr Manfredonia plans to collect fees over the next few weeks following exams.

“Hopefully, this will all be behind us by mid-February,” he said.

The board hopes to eventually draw a total of $300,000 from school-generated fees.

Reed Intermediate and Newtown Middle School activity fees, producing $2,800 and $11,900 in revenue respectively, have been collected in full.

In his second quarter finance report presented during the school board’s January 20 meeting, Business Director Ronald Bienkowski noted that 47.52 percent of the fees generated from the pay-to-play sports fees, or $69,765.94, was collected as of December 31, 2003.

The numbers reflect the collection from fall sports.

“We collect money at the beginning of every sports season,” Mr Manfredonia explained. “We just collected for winter sports, which will add an additional $38,600 [to the budget]. Spring sports should accumulate about $65,000.”

The board hopes to eventually raise an estimated $146,800.

Other school-generated fees include funds drawn from pool usage from outside groups, including $18,050 from Parks and Recreation and $7,500 in electricity costs.

Collectively, $79,915.94 has been collected thus far in the school year. The board is striving to meet its $300,000 goal by June.