The board of education in Harford County, Md., approved at its Jan 27 meeting a provisional budget that reduces the expected revenue from pay-to-play fees from $309,500 to zero, the Baltimore Sun reports.
The total budget shows projected expenditures for the 2014-15 school year of $484.7 million and completely eliminates the pay-to-play fees of $50 per sport, such as football or lacrosse, and $25 per other extracurricular activity, like clubs.
The line item removal of the pay-to-play fee was introduced as an amendment by board member Alysson Krchnavy, who thanked her fellow board members “for their spirited discussion on this particular amendment,” according to the Sun article. “I realize that, as we get the numbers back from the county executive, that this very well may come back to a conversation and may need to be restored, but for now I appreciate the consideration.”
Harford County has in recent years failed to meet the school system’s full request for the money in their budget. In fact, David R Craig, the county executive, said at a meeting in November, here, that the school budget has only been fully funded twice in recent history. If the pay-to-play fees are reinstated for next year, after the board determines that the county will once again come up short, board members will surely find themselves disappointed.
“I don’t believe for one minute that anyone on this school board would have supported activity fees if we had other options,” board member Thomas Fitzpatrick was quoted as saying.
