Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The Feb. 7 Metro story "Students, Parents Rise in Defense of Programs" mentioned in passing that one measure proposed by the Fairfax County Public Schools to cut its budget deficit is to charge families for students who participate in extracurricular activities. The current plan is to charge each student who participates $100 per season per sport or activity.

This proposal has many problems, most notably the financial burden it would place on parents with multiple children. Collecting delinquent or partial payments would be added to school administrators' workload. Some families would be paying a fee for a student to be on a team regardless of whether their child played often or at all. Those who couldn't or wouldn't pay a fee would have to deal with colleges looking for students who do more than just attend school.

Fairfax County's public school system pays only for coaches, officials, local transportation and some miscellaneous expenses. Schools (and parents) pay for everything else, including uniforms, field improvements and more. The proposed fees would probably lead to some sports being dropped, especially at schools with smaller enrollments.

Fairfax County is one of the wealthiest counties in the country and a leader in high-quality education for all children. It should not be a leader in the "pay to play" movement. Extracurricular activities should remain a part of the overall educational experience without new costs imposed on already overburdened taxpayers.

LISA LOMBARDOZZI

Herndon