By BECKY KISER
Hays Post News

The Hays USD 489 budget for high school and middle school athletics pays only for coaches and officials salaries, travel expenses, supplies and leases.

Everything else, from uniforms to equipment, is funded by donations from parents and the community.

The 2014 athletic funding budget for both schools was $563,923. Total community contributions were $404,218.

USD 489 school board members are considering implementing a “Pay to Participate” fee to close that funding gap.

During Monday night’s work session, Hays High School Booster Club member Jon Armstrong said there are “already numerous fundraisers for individual sports and many parents have the perception they are paying for their students to play.”

Armstrong added that implementing a “Pay to Play” fee would “likely result in less participation in athletics, and less financial support from parents and the community.”

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Hays High and Middle School Athletic Directors Chris Michaelis and Bruce Rupp both previously coached school sports for 20 years. Rupp told board members that “parents will expect their kids to see playing time if they’re paying for it, and coaches don’t need that kind of extra pressure.”

According to Michaelis, no schools in the Western Athletic Conference–to which Hays belongs–have a “Pay to Play” fee.

The Hays High Booster Club has raised an average $32,736 annually for athletics the past 12 years.

Superintendent Dean Katt said he prefers to leave the situation as is, but also pointed out that it would be easier to increase the current $50 activity fee charged to every student, rather than the “bookkeeping nightmare” of instituting a participation fee.

The board tabled the topic until the next work session.  They asked Michaelis for more information from schools which have implemented the fee, including Salina and McPherson.