Schools turning to booster clubs to help bolster budgets

Athletic Booster clubs are becoming more important, as schools face tighter budgets. In Frazee-Vergas the School District is making sure its booster club can help with coaching costs.

The request for assistance started in October when the girls and boy basketball booster club requested help from the district. This month the board came back and agreed to credit $40 per participant. The credit given to clubs will now come from the activity fees students pay, and not from taxpayer dollars.

Each athletic participant pays $80 to participate in their sport or activity. This money brought in nearly $29,000 last year and with this new credit, booster clubs will now receive around $16,000 of those dollars.

Chuck Cheney – Superintendent: “We've had this participation fee, that has gone to the district, and that's help fund the stuff at the upper levels the 9 through 12, now we are going to be returning half of that participation fee that comes from parents back to the booster club to be able to fund the coaches and things that they need at their level.”

The board unanimously agreed to the change, and also agreed to visit the issue annually. This new agreement will go into effect retroactively for the 2011-2012 school year.

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