Athletes in Prince George’s County schools would have to dish out $50 a year to play sports under the school system’s plan to plug an expected $85 million budget shortfall. Superintendent William Hite has suggested cutting $476,000 from the budget by charging a $50 athletic fee to students who play sports. “It’s ridiculous to me,” said Thomasine Green, a PTA officer of Robert R. Gray Elementary School in Capitol Heights, who noted that when she was student, playing sports was required and not just something for those who could afford to do it.
“I played golf, I did hockey, basketball and softball and we didn’t have to pay for any of that,” Green said.
Hite has also proposed saving $826,000 by making athletic directors part-time jobs.
But school system spokeswoman Lynn McCawley said she hasn’t heard complaints about the changes to sports like she has other issues, saying she thinks most are willing to accept a fee over the cutting of “programs that parents really love.”
“Most anything people do outside of school cost money anyway,” she said. “So I think that’s kind of how parents — at least parents of students not participating in athletics — perceive it.”
McCawley said details on the suggested athletic fee aren’t available because, like other proposed items in the budget, it’s only conceptual at this point.
“They’re just kind of seeing what people would not care about if we cut, what people are passionate about, what to keep,” she said. “That’s why you throw it out there for public comment.”
But McCawley did say that if an athletic fee were to be implemented, she expects there would be a process for waiving the cost for students who can’t afford it.
McCawley said the loudest of those protesting cuts at the school system’s public budget hearings have been parents arguing against cutting librarians from the schools, something Hite says would save $7.4 million. Those opposed to cuts to the JROTC program — which Hite says could save the system $3 million — have also been among the most passionate protesters, she said.
The school board is scheduled to meet Feb. 24 to adopt a final budget.
