Gloucester Alumni

By Patrick Anderson
Gloucester Daily Times Staff Writer

Gloucester's school sports fees will be march upward again next year — and the question facing officials now is how much.

A "worst-case scenario" projection released by the School Department last week would have fees for the majority of high school sports rise to $463, up $161, or 52 percent, from last year.

The increase represents the culmination of the School Committee's goal of making athletics in the public schools an entirely user-funded service paid for by fees, the revenues generated from ticket sales and the Dorothy Talbot skating rink at O'Maley Middle School.

With recession-year budget cuts coming throughout the school system and city government, School Committee Chairman Greg Verga said that this will be the first year no money from the school system's general operating fund goes to athletics.

Last year, the schools included $103,000 in operating funds to the athletic department to slow the dizzying rise of fees.

Despite that $103,000, fees last year rose 116 percent from the 2007-2008 school year up to $302 for most sports.

Since 2006, when the schools signaled their intention to cut funding for athletics several years ago, charitable contributions from the Gloucester Fishermen's Athletic Association have taken some of the sting out of the rise in fees for families.

This year, a series of popular GFAA "work days" gave students the opportunity to do maintenance and cleaning work on athletic facilities in exchange for money off their fees.

As the School Committee begins the now annual process of contemplating large fee increases and how to mitigate them, a possible GFAA contribution remains one of the leading variables.

Verga said the School Committee, while in contact with the GFAA, was not placing any specific expectations on the organization for a contribution.

Along with raising fees, the school system has cut athletics costs by sharing some coaches with other districts.

A more drastic step of eliminating freshman sports has been rejected by the School Committee to this point.

The preliminary fee schedule for next year released last week keeps the same basic structure as last year, with baseball, basketball, cheerleading, field hockey, hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, softball and tennis all at $463 per student. Cross country and track would be $314.

Like last year, there would be reduced "scholarship" rates for qualifying students and playing additional sports would not cost the same as each individual sport.

At O'Maley Middle School, most sports would rise from $86 to $132.

The sports fee increases come as the school system prepares for new and increased bus fees for many students.

Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com