“Pay-to-Play” school sports as budget deliberations option would not find support

MANCHESTER, NH – Prior to the concerns put forward by Manchester School District leadership and the lengthy discussion by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, the Manchester Board of School Committee’s Committee on Athletics roundly rejected the concept of instituting a “pay-to-play” system for school athletics as a way to make up for school budget shortcomings.

During the Committee on Athletics meeting earlier this month, Manchester Board of School Committee Vice Chair Jim O’Connell put forward the idea for the sake of having discussion as he did not promote the concept and also expressed concerns about reductions in other areas of the budget that would have an equally significant impact to students with less notoriety.

Manchester School District Athletic Coordinator Christine Telge indicated that a pay-to-play concept for student athletes would likely meet legal challenges. She noted that other school districts in New Hampshire do have pay-to-play policies, although these are generally more affluent areas than Manchester and even then they are usually for sports with significant equipment requirements, such as ice hockey.

Manchester School District Assistant Superintendent Forrest Ransdell said that even with pay to play policies in place, the funding would likely not completely pay for the cost of some sports.

It was also noted by several people at the meeting that instituting such a system would dramatically decrease access to scholastic sports, with the school district having stuggled to attract student athletes in several sports in recent years.

Ward 7 Board of School Committee Member Chris Potter said that the use of expendable trust funds would be preferrable to pay-to-play and said that he would sit in the mayor’s office until pay-to-pay was removed if it was added as a part of the budget, with O’Connell saying he would join him.

Ward 1 Alderman Chris Morgan, who runs youth sports leagues in the city, voiced his opposition to the idea as well following the meeting.

“I understand that budget discussions are never an easy topic, however the idea raised by Vice Chair O’Connell to make the school budget work by changing athletics to a pay-for-play model is simply a bad idea.  Athletics is an important component to a well-rounded school district, especially here in Manchester where 63 percent of our students are on free and reduced lunch,” he said. “A pay-to-play model raises concerns about equity and access for all of our students to play sports.  We are working hard to get more kids to play sports and now if you tell them they have to pay to play, do we really think more kids will participate?   I can tell you firsthand that hundreds of kids cannot afford to play recreation sports here in Manchester each year. To raise this option is irresponsible to the families and students in Manchester.”