Members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District board of education said they’re open to revisiting changes to this year’s student activity handbook. That’s after multiple families of non-district students protested fee hikes at Monday’s school board meeting in Seward.
The primary criticisms lobbed against this year’s new fee hikes are that it’s punitive and may price home-school students out of sports and activities.
Abigail Price is a junior at Interior Distance Education of Alaska, or IDEA. That’s the most popular home-school program for Kenai Peninsula students that isn’t run by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District.
Price swims for Kenai Central High School and was one of several people to speak against the fee hikes during the meeting. She said she’s worried other correspondence students may quit playing sports because they can no longer afford to pay the fees.
“The fee for the public school students is $200 and for the IDEA Homeschool students, it's $400,” Price said. “I don't agree with the 100% increase, and I believe it is unfair and unnecessary to our IDEA athletes. I'm asking to keep the fee equal.”
The school board approved updates to the district’s student activities handbook in June. That handbook is assembled and reviewed by the Kenai Peninsula School Activities Association, or KPSAA. The group is tasked with making sure district activities comply with board policies.
Starting this school year, non-district students will pay double what district students do to participate in school athletics and activities. Previously, district and non-district students paid the same amount.
Non-district students must now pay $400 per sport per year. There’s no annual fee cap and non-district students are no longer eligible for fee waivers. District students pay $200 per sport per school year. Fees are capped at $700 per year for district high school students.
Vaugh Dosko is the principal of Kenai Middle School and KPSAA’s executive secretary. He presented the then-proposed changes to board members in May and said they’re rooted in ongoing budget constraints.
“I think the general idea was it was more about, with shortage of funds for sports teams that are having to fundraise, that this was also an opportunity to — that somebody from outside the district was paying their fair share,” he said.
Dosko said the fees for district students are still cheaper than in the Anchorage and Matanuska-Susitna Borough school districts. For high school students, the Mat-Su Borough School District charges $250 in athletic fees and $15 for clubs. There’s a yearly fee cap of $625 per student per year.
The Mat-Su Borough School District currently allows non-district students to participate in district sports and activities for the same participation fee as district students. John Notestine, the district’s public information officer, said Wednesday, though, that that policy is currently being reviewed by district administration.
Multiple people who spoke during Monday’s meeting said non-district students should pay more than district students to participate in school activities. But, most said they want some of the new barriers removed.
Courtney Abel was one of several parents to call for changes to the fees during the meeting. She homeschools her five children in the Soldotna area and said the rates, if left alone, will cost her $2,400 for her two high school students this school year.
“I am fully aware that out of district, athletes should pay a higher fee, but the recent changes have become a hardship for many families,” Abel said. “I'm here to ask you to please consider reinstating at least a cap.”
Monday’s testimony comes after another fraught budget year for the school district. Facing a $16 million deficit, the board implemented budget cuts that included closing school pools and theaters, and cutting athletic director positions. The board brought back those cuts using one-time money from the state, but is already warning about a bigger hole next budget cycle.
The district has made it a priority to boost enrollment at its own home-school program, Connections. As of last fall, an estimated 1,400 school-age students on the peninsula attended a home-school program not run by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. The financial impact of that to the district is estimated to be between $7 million and $8 million in lost state revenue.
Board president Zen Kelly said all activity fees go directly to supporting that activity or program. The district spends $1.2 million annually on salaries and stipends for extracurricular activities. Most of that money comes from state funding, which is determined by student enrollment. The state gives districts a set amount of money per student, called the base student allocation, or BSA.
“The people participating in our sports, whether it’s a $200 fee or a $400 fee, is a drop in the bucket,” he said. “But how we fill that bucket and get that $1.2 million to pay those salaries is based on our enrolled students and the BSA money that comes from the state. And that is just a fact of life.”
Board member Jason Tauriainen had similar thoughts.
“We do care about all of our kids,” he said. “But, you know, our programs are district programs for district kids, and we're including people from the outside as well.”
Multiple board members specifically identified a fee cap as something they’d be open to revisiting at a future date.
The board’s next meeting is Oct. 7.
