Superintendent’s Open Memo Provides Proposed Activity Fee Outline

The superintendent of Upper Moreland School District, Dr. Robert Milrod, sent out an open memo to the community yesterday, further explaining the proposed activities fee.

As at previous school board public committee meetings, the memo emphasizes that funds collected from the activity fee will be exclusively for Upper Moreland middle and high school students participating in sports and marching band co-curricular activities.

Milrod writes that such funds would have a specific focus:

“The main focus of the activity fee is to provide additional, necessary funding for the purpose of purchasing new equipment and new uniforms as needed, and to help offset transportation costs to competitions that are fifty or more miles away.”

According to the memo, $50,000 may be expected from the district-wide activity fee, adding to the approximately two-thirds of a million dollars the district budgets for co-curriculars. However, funds from the activity fee will go into a  “stand alone” account, to be presented to the public at committee meetings and audited annually.

An activity fee committee, made up of stakeholders both in and out of the school district, will manage the account.

Milrod emphasized that the committee’s direction of the funds will be, “A fair representation of all students who participate.”

While Milrod’s original proposal of

• Middle School Students

$75 for one co-curricular sport activity per student

$100 total for one student participating in multiple co-curricular sports activities

 

• High School Students

$100 for one co-curricular sport activity per student

$150 total for one student participating in multiple co-curricular sports activities.

 And a district-wide family cap of $250 is still on the table, he also wrote that,

“ In the end, it is committee work that will determine all decisions and recommendations regarding the actual amounts collected, the process for doing so, and any processes regarding reduced or free rates for students.”

Last month, president of the school board, Dr. David Hakes, formed an “Ad Hoc” committee that will continue the process of making plans for the activity fee, so that the activity fee committee will be ready, when chosen. In the memo, Milrod wrote that he hopes that recommendations by the Ad Hoc committee will be presented to the full school board of directors for action by May 2012.

This month, including tonight’s (6:45 p.m. at the ) Program and Services committee meeting, will feature further public discussion of the activity committee.

Milrod’s memo ended with six bullet points with one final point, outlining the activity fee proposal. In his final point, Milrod clearly emphasized the need for the activity fee.

“My final point is this: This proposal is being brought forward because there are needs for uniforms, equipment, and transportation which exceed exsisting base budget funding. Considering the state of our economy and our district tax bse, increasing taxes to fund these items is not a possibility. If this plan does not move forward, there either needs to be an alternate plan for new revenue streams, or we will continue to not have the funds to support these co-curricular needs.”

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See the .pdf above to read the superintendent's full memo.