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While it has becoming difficult to find other than propaganda coverage of the politically charged federal recreation fee issue, one can still find quality reporting for other, directly analogous, pay-to-play schemes. The problem is not primarily with the reporting. The problem, to a large degree, is that discussion of this topic at the federal level has been stifled by Whitehouse politics. At the federal level, discussion of this transformational issue is tightly controlled and carefully scripted. Park or forest officials simply can not speak candidly to the media and, as a result, what makes it into the press is not useful information ... it is propaganda given out for instructional purposes.
This level of extreme authoritarian control has not yet permeated throughout all levels of society and government. For a while longer, at least, we will see reporting in which a variety of beliefs and opinions are presented with some candor.
Pasted below is one such article. It is not about federal recreation fees. It is about fees being charged for school-related activities and services. What is true of recreation user fees is generally true of school activity fees and visa versa. What's different is the honestly and the quality of the discussion.
Scott
"During a war, news should be given out for instruction rather than information." - Joseph Goebbels
--- begin quoted ---
Friday, October 13, 2006
Hey, kid -- want to play? In some schools, it'll cost you
BY JOHN WIHBEY AND BRENDAN BERLS -Star-Ledger Staff
At a time when the state's voters are revolting against soaring school
budgets, some cash-strapped districts are rethinking how to fund
sports, band and even the chess club.
The result has been the creeping expansion of user fees assessed to
families whose children act, sing, kick, throw or run for a few hours
after the final bell.
In morris county, washington township is joining neighboring chester
township in levying fees for the first time this fall. Students at long
valley middle school, in washington, will pay $50 to play sports and
$25 for all other extracurricular activities, including the spring
musical. It will cost $30 for chester middle schoolers to play a sport.
Glen ridge, east brunswick, sparta, westfield, ridgewood and long hill
are among about a dozen districts now asking parents to pay before
their kids can participate in some types of activities, according to
the new jersey school boards association.
Districts now charging fees say defeated school budgets forced funding changes, and nonacademic programs were the first to go.
That's what happened in east brunswick, which began charging a $50 fee
for sports and $15 for extracurricular clubs this fall after its budget
failed this earlier this year.
In glen ridge, the budget had not failed, but the district was
straining at its annual increase cap in 2004 when the school board
decided to impose the fee. The district charges a $200 flat fee for
participation in sports or clubs.
"Nobody's happy about doing this," superintendent daniel fishbein said.
"But we want to provide these opportunities to the students."
families have traditionally picked up the tab for extracurricular
equipment like athletic cleats and musical instruments, but paying an
outright surcharge strikes some parents of middle and high schoolers,
coaches and even kids as unfair.
"My friends on the soccer team thought it was a rip-off," said charlie
durkin, 14, an eighth-grader and cross-country runner at black river
middle school in chester. "I thought that if you made the team it was
your privilege to play on it for free."
this type of "pay-to-play" is much more widespread outside new jersey
and has been imposed in thousands of districts around the country. Most
fees nationally are less than $100, but in some districts they range
far higher -- as in fairfield, ohio, where high school students are
charged $630 per sport.
A study last year by the national interscholastic athletic
administrators association found more than 35 percent of high schools
have such systems, mostly blanket fees that cover all sports, said mike
blackburn, associate executive director of the indianapolis-based
professional group. The figure represents an increase of nearly 10
percent since 1995.
Another finding in the study was the user fees have had little negative
effect on student participation in sports, blackburn said. Only 9
percent of athletic directors reported decreases since the fees were
imposed, while 73 percent said it remained the same and 18 percent
reported an increase.
Long hill superintendent arthur dibenedetto also said the fees, now in
place for a second year, have yet to show any impact on participation
at his middle school.
"I have not received one complaint," he said.
Glen ridge, chester, washington township and long hill officials all
said no student would be turned away from sports or clubs and that they
would subsidize kids who can't afford it.
Ridgewood was among the first towns to charge activity fees, starting in 1995.
The school boards association has not taken a position on the fees, but it is monitoring the trend, spokesman mike yaple said.
"I can't imagine student activity fees are something that any school
board would eagerly adopt," he said. "Boards are faced with the choice
of eliminating some programs and keeping them by charging these fees."
for parents of highly involved kids, the new fees may add up.
Lucy leidwinger, a mother of an eighth-grader at long valley middle
school in washington township, said she will need to pay at least $125
in fees this year for her daughter to sing in several choruses and play
instruments.
"A lot of parents believe we pay enough in taxes," she said. "We sort of wonder where our tax money is going."
and coaches aren't always happy about the fees, or the budget cuts with which they are often packaged.
Sharon zisa, who coached soccer in chester for three years, said she
gave up coaching this fall when the district cut her assistant. She
said if there are fees for sports, all extracurricular activities
should carry fees -- which is not the case in chester.
"There are parents who have to pay $60 for two kids, and some kids play three sports," zisa said.
But robin gurin, another long valley parent, said she doesn't mind the
$250 in fees her middle school daughter will likely rack up this year.
"Anything we can do to alleviate the burden on over-55 people, we should do," she said.
The growing user fee trend has attracted the notice of assemblyman john
burzichelli (d-gloucester), who has introduced a bill to ban the fees.
"Public education is not a la carte," burzichelli said. "If (an
activity) is worthy to be included as part of the child's education, it
should be part of the package."
new jersey would not be the first state to ban activity fees if the law
goes through. California has outlawed the practice since a state
supreme court ruling in 1984.
Such a ban would make it difficult for districts that have begun to
rely on fees for sports and other extracurricular programs. Washington
township -- where the budget was cut by $305,000, much of it from music
and athletic programs -- estimates it will collect $30,000 in activity
fees this school year.
Liz george, secretary for the school board, noted it costs $496 to pay
for just one player on the basketball team -- uniform, coaches'
salaries, referee fees and travel -- and more than $100 for some
students in other extracurricular programs.
"It's getting more and more difficult to get these types of things in our budget," george said.
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