School Committee Approves Family Cap For Athletic User Fees

At their Wednesday night meeting, the Tewksbury School Committee approved the implementation of a "family cap" for Tewksbury Memorial High School families with more than one student athlete. 

The School Committee voted 5-0 in favor of setting a family cap at $600 on athletic user fees for families with more than one student playing sports. The family cap will be set in place for the 2013-2014 school year.

The athletic user fee for TMHS is $150 per student per sport.

Before the vote, Superintendent John O'Connor presented a study examining athletic user fees and family caps in school districts similar to Tewksbury. 

Of other MVC schools, only North Andover, Dracut, Haverhill and Notre Dame have a family cap for athletic user fees:

School Family Cap North Andover  $750 Dracut  $600 Haverhill  $600 Notre Dame  $400

Instituting the $600 family cap in Tewksbury will save 10 to 15 families with multiple student atheletes approximately $3000, impacting the School Department's FY14 budget by the same amount. 

Members of the School Committee said they hoped instituting a fiscally responsible family cap for athletic user fees would lessen the burden for families with multiple student athletes, as well as encourage students to participate in more sports.

"One way or the other we have to come up with a cap to keep the fees down to a reasonable level," Vice Chairman Dennis Francis said. "I believe if we do something in terms of the sports fees we'll see participation go up."

Board Member Krissy Polimeno agreed that introducing the family cap would lead to increased participation levels.

"It is time to show a little support for our families and to increase participation, and the best way I can think of to do that is to introduce a family cap," Polimeno said. 

Stick with Tewksbury Patch for more coverage of Wednesday night's School Committee meeting.