Participation Fees
Editorial

The Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee made a bad decision last week when they voted to institute a flat fee for all students in middle and high school as a way to fund co-curricular activities.

The committee voted to charge all middle-school students $50 to cover the cost of co-curricular activities, and all high-school students $60 to do the same. Under this fee, students are able to participate in as many or as few activities as they want.

Fiscally, this idea makes sense because it is a simple way of collecting money. There is a predetermined amount of money that will be coming into the district and there is no guessing as to how many students will decide to participate in an activity and whether the income will cover the cost.

Administratively, it also makes sense. As there is a set list of students and it is easy to keep a single list of the fees, which have or have not been collected.

And it probably is a good way to encourage students to participate in activities. The School Committee and the administration has discussed how important it is for students to have extra-curricular activities on their resume when they leave high school and this may be a good way to encourage students to participate.

The question is, should activities be forced on a student? Students know what will make them a good candidate for a job or for college - the ability to balance a variety of activities, dedication to an interest, and time-management skills.

The problem is that there are some families in which participating in after-school activities is simply not practical. There are times when a student must meet family or employment obligations. Let us hope that in some cases the school's administration will make exceptions.

The other problem with this is less practical and more based on principle because instituting the fee is like charging students and families a fee to attend public school.

But the question remains is there a better way to make up the deficit after voters reject the override?