CSD Athletic Fees Are Now Waived

Cascade School District recently adopted a policy to waive fees for participation in sports at the middle school and high school level. Expense will no longer be a barrier for any student to participate in athletics. This decision was made by administrators with input from Dwight Remick, the CSD business manager.

HB 1660, which passed the Washington State legislature in June of 2020, influenced this course of action. “Under HB 1660, school districts who charge a fee for attendance at or participation in any optional, noncredit extracurricular event must adopt a policy for waiving all fees for students who are low income,” said Dominique Coffin, district athletic director.

“It has really been a goal for us to figure out how we can eliminate sports fees for students/families, but never seemed like something we could pull off. After last year of not charging anything for sports with the shortened season and now with HB 1660, we felt like it was the best time to make it happen.”

In prior years, CSD has waived sports fees for any student who qualifies via the free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL) eligibility. This next step of a waiver for all students is necessary, because, as stated on the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction website, “The process for charging and collecting Associated Student Body (ASB) card fees, school-based athletic program fees, optional noncredit school club fees, and other fees from students in grades 9–12 must be the same for all students, regardless of their FRPL eligibility. The fee waivers must be automatically applied, where applicable.”

Beyond athletics, other noncredit school club fees will also be waived. Connected to this new plan is also a waiving of spectator fees. “Charging for games has always been a league level decision. We charge in our league for football, volleyball, basketball and wrestling only,” said Coffin. Now, to account for requirements by HB 1660, spectator attendance fees will be waived for all. “We did not want to single out low-income families,” said Coffin. He also said that at a recent league meeting, all schools have opted for a similar system of removing these fees.

This year, spectators can donate to attend a game, and those funds will be restricted to go toward expenses associated with that sport.

There are budgetary impacts of this new policy. “The district will be absorbing athletics for basic needs (balls, safety equipment, etc.),” said Coffin. “Before I came, the district also took on official costs and transportation, which was something our fees at gates helped pay for. Our athletics was always in the red though as these are big costs, so that is when the district took on those fees. Our coaches also have fundraising accounts where we are able to raise money for the extra needs of our programs.”

This decision will hopefully inspire greater sports participation. It is documented that extracurricular opportunities improve academic, social, and emotional outcomes and could prove particularly beneficial after a year and a half of hardship caused by the pandemic.

“I believe this is a huge step for our district,” said Coffin. “We have always pushed that we do not want money to ever be a reason why a student-athlete cannot participate.”