Have Newton Student Activity Fees Affected Your Club, Sport Participation?

High school drama: $150 per production, maximum $450 per year

High School student clubs: $125

Middle School activities: $60; $100 if student also participates in drama

Those give you an idea of fees introduced at the start of the 2011-2012 year in Newton Public Schools, costs that were added to fees already in place for sports and bus transportation.

Has putting a price on after-school activities had an impact on your club or sport participation? 

Deputy Superintendent/Chief Administrative Officer Sandy Guryan presented the latest data on fee collection during Monday night's School Committee meeting: as of Feb. 1, the Newton School Department had collected $1.8 million in FY '13 student activity and sports fees, roughly 75 percent of the $2.4 million it expects to collect this fiscal year.

Guryan noted that the district has been able to collect more fees as families are able to pay online. 

Battling a $4.4 million budget gap in fiscal 2012, the Newton Public Schools introduced fees in fall 2011 for students participating in school clubs or drama programs, and increased already existing sports fees. 

List of fees available here.

With fee collection increasing, the district is expecting to collect an additional $580,000 in fees this school year, according to a memo from Guryan. This will bring fiscal 2013 collections to 99 percent of what the district planned to collect, the memo said, and around $143,000 more (or 6 percent more) than the district collected last year.

Guryan said the administration will continue to pursue more club rosters and student participants who owe fees. In addition, the administration plans to issue a survey at the end of the school year to field feedback from club managers on the impact fees have had on participation.

For more detailed information on the fee collection, read Guryan's memo in the .pdf section above.

School Committee members continued to press the administration for more detailed information on whether the new fees are affecting club participation rates. Committee members also urged the administration to survey parents and students in addition to club managers, to get a comprehensive view of how the fees have affected participation.

"We want to make sure we're reaching out to families and students as part of that [survey] process," said Ward 8 committee member Margie Ross Decter.

Late last year, a large group of Newton high school students filled the School Committee room to express concern about club fees and their potential impact on student participation, particularly those clubs that raise money for charity.

So, tell us -- have you stopped participating in clubs because of the student activity fees? Do you think the fees have affected club participation? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.