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Board Advisory Committee for Fees. Heritage Middle School Media Center Monday, May 17, 2010. LHS COACHING REDUCTION. The following eight sports will lose one assistant coach at LHS: Boys Soccer Baseball Girls Soccer Softball Field Hockey Boys Lacrosse Wrestling Girls Lacrosse.
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Board Advisory Committee for Fees Heritage Middle SchoolMedia Center Monday, May 17, 2010
LHS COACHING REDUCTION The following eight sports will lose one assistant coach at LHS: Boys Soccer Baseball Girls Soccer SoftballField Hockey Boys Lacrosse Wrestling Girls Lacrosse
HMS COACHING REDUCTION(if program is reinstated) The following six sports will lose one assistant coach at HMS: Girls Tennis Girls Volleyball Boys Tennis Boys Volleyball Boys Basketball Girls Basketball
PROGRAMS CONSIDERED FOR FEES • G&T Art & Music, Grades 4 and 5 – Reinstatement • Extracurricular fee, Grade 6 • Extracurricular fee, Grades 7 and 8 • Athletic fee, Grades 7 and 8 – Reinstatement • Extracurricular fee, Grades 9-12 • Athletic fee, Grades 9-12
IDEAS FOR CONSIDERATION 1. Outsource Interscholastic Middle School Sports The District would develop an RFP and allow for organizations to bid on the entire package of interscholastic middle school sports. Part of the specification would be that all current offerings must be maintained, although we would probably allow for a reduction in the number of games. The YMCA has expressed a level of interest in this type of approach. Pros • Program is restored • Fees would be reduced because of lower salary scales for coaches • All administrative costs and staff resources would be borne by the bidder Cons • Parent concerns about quality of program—would it be the same? • Would lower coaching salaries result in lesser coaches? • Administrator concerns that parents would still hold HMS responsible for program.
IDEAS FOR CONSIDERATION 2. Reduce current HMS Middle School Program by 20% We would schedule all current programs for four days a week instead of the current five. Coaches would be paid 20% less. This would not save enough funds to restore the program but could be used in conjunction with any type of fee structure to reduce per pupil costs. Pros • All programs would be maintained • Students and teacher/coaches would be available after school for academic work Cons • Fee structure is still needed for full restoration • LEA/coaches may either challenge legally or not agree • Parent concerns about remaining “competitive” with a four day a week program
IDEAS FOR CONSIDERATION 3. Charge activity/interscholastic fee at middle school level. The fees would be very high, easily approaching $400 per child involved in MS interscholastic sports. Charging all students engaged in MS activities an activity fee would bring in additional revenue to spread the costs of MS interscholastic sports across all students. Pros • Program is restored • All LHS activities remain in place without fees • Costs of restoring the program are borne by the students/parents at that level Cons • Cost per student very high – would dissuade participation • Financial hardship could limit participation • Student fees would not represent the actual cost; activity fees would frequently be subsidizing sports fees
IDEAS FOR CONSIDERATION 4. Charge activity/interscholastic fee for any LPS student participating in an activity. This approach would spread the revenue production across all activity/sports participants across the district. Pros • Program is restored • Activity/sports fee would be reduced for middle school students Cons • Original budget projections did not include fees for elementary or high school students • Cost per student may dissuade participation • Student fees would not represent the actual cost; activity fees would frequently be subsidizing sports fees • Financial hardship could limit participation
FEE STRUCTURE 1. Gifted and Talented fee for Grades 4 and 5 • $125/participant • Maximum cap of $300/family 2. Grade 6 participation fee • $75/year (unlimited activities per student) • Maximum cap of $300/family
FEE STRUCTURE 3. Grade 7 and 8 participation fee • $75/activity fee • $125/athletic fee • $125 for seasonal activities such as Jazz Band 7 and 8, Select Choir, Select Orchestra, Musicals and Dramas • Activity cap of $75 per student/per year • Athletic/Seasonal Activity Cap of $125 per stud/per year • Maximum cap of $300/family
FEE STRUCTURE 4. Grades 9-12 participation fee • $75/activity fee • $150 athletic fee • $150 for seasonal activities such as Marching Band, Jazz Band, Musicals and Dramas • Activity cap of $75 per student/per year • Athletic/Seasonal Activity Cap of $150 per stud/per year • Maximum cap of $300/family
Summary of Committee Comments Dr. Draeger went through the PowerPoint that the Administration had prepared; explaining and reviewing each slide. After the last slide, Dr. Draeger encouraged discussion and questions. Comments/Questions are categorized by the Administrator’s suggestions that were listed in the PowerPoint. The following slides are the comments made by the committee members; the committee member comments are in black, the administration’s comments are in green.
Summary of Committee Comments (Cont’d) 1. Outsource Interscholastic Middle School Sports. Comment was made to have the LEF run the program. The LEF can hire and pay for the providers. Basking Ridge’s middle school, William Annin has an umbrella PTO/PTA Interscholastic organization which runs in conjunction with the BOE; suggestion to look at this model. There is a meeting on 5/26 if we want to attend (fee for meeting is $30). Do we have to have one conglomerate running everything, or can we have each specialized program with individuals that have expertise in that specific area?It would be very difficult to have the program separated like that; need control over scheduling, field usage, etc. Outsourcing would be my last option. Everyone has to give (make sacrifices); the coaches, the participants, the parents. Reduced stipend or nothing. Which would you chose? Suggestion was made to outsource the staffing portion only. Contract the coaches from an outside agency (such as the Recreation Department or YMCA) and all other portions would be managed by the middle school.Outsourcing just the staffing portion may result in a contractual issue; we would need to get legal advice on this.
Summary of Committee Comments (Cont’d) 2. Reduce current HMS Middle School Program by 20%.Address one of the cons – other districts are doing 3 or 4 days per week, so 4 days would not necessarily be a problem. The room came to a consensus that this reduction is reasonable and feels it would be acceptable to parents. 3. Charge activity/interscholastic fee at middle school level. Unequivocally not an option. Too much money on middle school families and students. Suggestion was made to have one HMS participation fee which includes sports, activities, clubs and intramurals. Question asked: like the aides, can we cut all the coaches and rehire under a different guise? (like the LEF)If LEF or another group is doing the rehiring, that is possible. However, LPS cannot rehire these same coaches for that would be considered an unfair labor practice and would be a breach of the current LEA contract. What is the possibility of opening the contracts? Find out the legality of this.It is legal to open the LEA contract, but the LEA has to agree to do that. Outsourcing is not a legal or contract issue. Outsourcing issue that was discussed at the weekend meetings last month: HMS scope is very large, too much for them (YMCA or Recreation Department) to handle. It would have to be scaled down. If you only charge middle school, it undermines your premise; that we are in a budget crisis and we cannot afford to give you everything for free. Start with the premise of people have to pay for things. It was mistake in the 1st place to put the onus on middle school. Why not the high school? We believed they were important before, in fact we believed they [middle school sports] were so important that we paid the highest stipend fees.
Summary of Committee Comments (Cont’d) 4. Charge activity/interscholastic fee for any LPS student participating in an activity. Do the fees that are being suggested include hardships? No the fees suggested cover the costs based on the estimated participation. The estimated hardship dollars needed for 6-12 is $50,000. Hardship now being extended to elementary and high school; original hardship discussion and finances were based on HMS only. Dr. Draeger and Steve Robinson clarified that the $300 cap per family (listed on the proposed fee structure) would be for all students 4-12; not just 9-12. Are we going to have a minimum number of participation for the co-curricular activities due to cost? No new minimum requirements will be instituted; however if only 1 or 2 students sign up for a club or GT Art or Music the course would not run. Does the fee include administrative costs for the collection of fees and the associated paperwork? Yes, the salary for a limited, part-time position at HMS has been incorporated into budget structure. Program advisors will do the collection of fees and paperwork at LHS and MPM. Have we worked out the per hour rate for the HMS coaches? No, we did not work out that figure. We have provided the group with the per season stipend rate.
Summary of Committee Comments (Cont’d) 4. Charge activity/interscholastic fee for any LPS student participating in an activity. Have do you assess a coach’s performance? There is a direct relationship between quality of program/staff and the parents’ willingness to pay. We absolutely observe and evaluate our coaches; on the field, at practices, how they interact with the families, how they manage paperwork, etc. We hold our coaches accountable and evaluate them accordingly. As for GT Art &Music, these programs are evaluated by the content area supervisor or in some case the school administrator. There is a problem in that there are many booster groups at the high school that already fundraise and ask for participation fees. Parent organizations at LHS and fundraising is out of control. Difficult for families; too much pull, req’d to sell. LHS parents would be upset; that the BOE is cutting more. Hockey parent – has no problem paying at LHS; realize the importance and the economic state. Maybe high school students would make a commitment if paying for it which would be a positive; students are spread too thin. Supports LHS fees as well, but next year with renegotiation of the LEA contract; it will need to be reexamined.
Summary of Committee Comments (Cont’d) SURVEY QUESTION/COMMENTS: Clarification requested – was the question specific to middle school sports? No, the survey question asked if you would be willing to pay for before and after school activities, including those that were eliminated in the 2010-2011 school budget.If 67% of the parents agreed without a level being specified, then we should not have a problem with the proposed fee structure. We underestimate the generosity of the community; it has been seen when we have had a referendum for a specific level; all levels have come out to vote in support. 1,930 families responded, but only 430 unique individuals participate in interscholastic sports at HMS; which indicates there is wide support across all levels/district who were not impacted by the elimination of the program. There was a comment about the previous survey that some parents may answer the second question with an assumption that the fee will not be applied to LHS. Therefore the board should also consider an option without including fee for LHS as part of many options that are on the table.
Summary of Committee Comments (Cont’d) GENERAL COMMENTS $80K for HMS Program: Reduce middle school program by 20% (40K); plus take the $40K that was incorporated into the budget to increase intramurals. Like the fee proposal; fair, not ridiculous, reasonable. Fees across the board is fair; not fair to segregate just HMS. Hand in your physical, hand in your check [the way to manage the payment]. At this point are we looking at bringing everything back? Dr. Draeger stated that he was surprised about the positive response to suggestion to #2; therefore he believes everything is on the table for reinstatement. The consensus was that Dr. Draeger and the administration did an excellent job coming up with a fee structure to bring back the programs cut from the budget. An endowment is not a precondition to reinstate all programs for the fall. NEXT STEPS: All four suggestions will be presented to the Board Members at the Monday, May 24th BOE meeting. Then, after the BOE discussion; we will come back with another survey for the public. We will use email to communicate with the committee; there might be 2-3 more meetings if necessary.
