How tough will it be, if GC(Guilford County) decides to impose a $45.00 fee and make it where Athletics/Sports are not FREE for kids in the County(Updated news:School Board says, “hand it over”)

The idea is out there and it is WAY out there, and it is almost ready to be, where the Guilford County Schools impose a fee, and with that you would see kids having to pay $45.00 for the 2017-18 school year, in their Guilford County Schools…

*****Athletics and physical education:the new Guilford County Schools 2017-18 budget includes charges for an annual $45 participation fee for athletes who can afford to pay.*****

Time to pay up:Good news:Got a Call from the County this morning and there will be a one-time Fee of $45.00 per year, per athlete…Not $45.00 per sport and you can play as many sports as you want for $45.00 per year….
You will not have to pay:
Football-$45.00
Basketball-$45.00
Baseball-$45.00
Soccer-$45.00
Track-$45.00
Volleyball-$45.00
Lacrosse-$45.00
Cross Country-$45.00
Field Hockey-$45.00
Swimming-$45.00
Tennis-$45.00…..
Play as many sports as you want for $45.00 per year….

The ‘Stars on 45’, will be coming Alive at a $45.00 dollar clip….Food costs, school supplies costs, clothing costs, equipment costs, insurance costs, and now Sports/Athletics will be costing you too….

*****Are You Ready To Play?????*****

+++++Maybe we should re-phrase that question and ask you, “Are You Ready To Pay, To Play?”……….+++++

^^^^^How about those kids from single-parent families and how about the kids that are doing all they can to get a meal or two to keep them before they go to the practice or games each day/afternoon/night????^^^^^

School Board Approves Budget Request for 2017-18
May 9, 2017– The Guilford County Board of Education will ask county commissioners for an additional $10.2 million for operating budget and $10 million for capital outlay for the next school year.

The request is a $2 million increase from the superintendent’s recommended budget, accounting for changes to the unfunded class-size mandate approved by state lawmakers last month.

The requested funds from the county would also help cover anticipated salary and benefit increases from the state ($7.1 million) and an expected increase in charter school enrollment of more than 900 students ($3.8 million).

GCS is expected to grow by approximately 230 students in the next school year, but the school board isn’t asking county commissioners for additional funding for those students.

To pay for the additional GCS students, and make up the majority of costs associated with the state’s class-size legislation ($4.6 million of the $6.6 million needed), while preserving arts, athletics and physical education, the budget reduces 51 teacher assistant positions, reorganizes central office and charges an annual $45 participation fee for athletes who can afford to pay.

$$$$$My question on this is, how do you decide who can and can not pay….$$$$$

#####Time to get a Summer Job, I guess….#####

CLICK HERE for more from the Board of Education…..

31 thoughts on “How tough will it be, if GC(Guilford County) decides to impose a $45.00 fee and make it where Athletics/Sports are not FREE for kids in the County(Updated news:School Board says, “hand it over”)

  1. If a kid truely can’t afford the $45 per sport per year maybe they can find a sponsor or maybe one of their teammates will step up and answer the bell. $45 is pretty resonable though.

  2. afraid it will happen Ted, as unfortunate as that may be. the interesting point is going to be Andy’s question as to how it’s going to be determined who has to pay and who doesn’t have to pay. and then what happens when you have a sport where almost all of the players have their fees waved because of their family’s financial situations? looks like the booster clubs are going to have to dig deeper and deeper. the cost of a hot dog at a football game just went up…

  3. Wow this is terrible. Everything is about money nowadays, and nobody thinks about the less privileged. As a middle school track coach I hate this idea.

  4. $45 is one week’s worth of beer/cigs and lottery tickets for most underprivileged parents.

  5. Taxing the people for their children to play sports is ludicrous. Mandatory plays will come next.

  6. @ forty why does it have to be beer and lottery tickets…. you are real ignorant I hope your kids don’t think like you…smfh

  7. 12pack of malt liquor $15
    3pack of Kool cigs $15
    $15 worth of scratch offs
    TOTAL: $45

  8. @ snowflake sounds like you voted for Trump too, but I smoke Marlboro & drink Budweiser. Which scratch offs do you play?

  9. We haven’t seen talk like this in a while. What has everyone so worked up/wound up?????

    Is this a topic for which you would want to see more answers and details????

    Is this one we need to look at in more detail?

    Is this a topic that you feel will divide or bring our community together?

  10. Lots of counties have started charging $6 to enter games. Guilford County still charges $5. I appreciate that and I realize the schools don’t get all that revenue but maybe raising that ticket price would alleviate some of the costs.

  11. Pay to play illicits parents and kids to expect to play….therefore equal play will happen….therefore the prevalence of “daddy” ball will continue; why would a kid pay 45 dollars to play sports when mom and dad pay thousands for travel ball and get “more” out of it….thus making our future generations feel they are owed everything and the work ethic of this country will significantly decline….even lower than it is right now!

  12. @youth sports guru, I totally agree with you. It’s almost like rec ball when someone pays they expect playing time. If they so hard up on money why not charge like other counties for kids to be out of district. I think most counties charge about $1200 a year to allow kids to be out of district.

  13. According to one Guilford County AD that I spoke with, this is a Done Deal. I’ve also heard that if a student is on free or reduced lunch, the fee will be waived. It’s also my understanding that all athletic events in GC will have a $6 admission charge, which is long overdue. Don’t be surprised, however, if some schools decide to charge more. My only question on this is how can GC enforce the pay to play policy?

  14. First, athletes have to pay $45.00; next, participants have to pay $6 at the gate…the referees at events must refrain from flagging teams because of their demographic.

  15. and if I’m paying my kid better be playing…regardless of skill level. see a problem here?

  16. Got a call from the County and to make it Clear:”One-time Fee of $45.00 per Year”

  17. If you have a child in college, in most cases, you are paying an athletic fee and your child is not even playing sports. What’s the big deal about $45? Would you really expect your child to play because you had to pay $45 participation fee?

  18. “Ted Roe said,

    First, athletes have to pay $45.00; next, participants have to pay $6 at the gate…the referees at events must refrain from flagging teams because of their demographic.”

    AREN’T ATHLETES AND PARTICIPANTS ONE IN THE SAME? HOPEFULLY OL’ TEDDY ROE MEANT TO SAY SPECTATORS…SMH

  19. I have several issues with this paying to play. First off, the statement says that GC will charge athletes a $45 participation fee for athletes “that can afford to pay”. Who gets to decide that? Now I read that it’s based on the students who are on free/reduced lunch, so I’m assuming if you are free/reduced you don’t have to pay this fee, which means that may schools will have no kids paying the fee. What happens to their programs?
    Secondly, if I’m paying I want to help decide who the coach is. My child has played 2 years of middle school sports and one of the coaches for one sport didn’t have a clue what they were doing and didn’t want any help coaching (from another GCS employee). This severely affected the outcome of many games and left the students that knew how to play the game extremely frustrated to the point that they didn’t want to play anymore.
    I think this will turn lots of athletes away from playing school sports because, as someone said above, you have travel ball and some don’t feel you need school ball any longer for basketball and baseball/softball.
    Also, as someone said above, when you ask people to pay they are going to expect playing time!
    I don’t mind paying a fee but I can see this causing a lot of issues down the road and I’m not sure the county office is prepared to deal with them.

  20. GC Parent, you really think that if you have travel ball then school baseball/softball are no longer needed? the cost of travel ball, especially if you have a team that “travels”, will make the $45 seem like peanuts. I have seen parents forking out $1500+ per year for travel ball and their kid still can’t hit against less than average school pitching…nor make routine plays in the field. travel ball, yep that is the answer for everything. if a kid and his family honestly have a hard time affording $45, do you think travel ball is an option for them?

  21. The whole system is going to h#@#. Teacher assistants are getting cut more and more each year. Our system is losing more teachers to out of state jobs than we are getting new teachers entering the state. We have had several “coaches” just in our area recently were caught doing inappropriate activities with their “girl” teams. Hopefully all these type of nuts will get justice in jail. In general, I agree 100% that this $45 fee is terrible and does put some families in a tough position. It may only be $45 to you but there are a lot of families that this fee will hit at the wrong point in their life due to whatever situations (i.e. behind on the electric, water or whatever bill). You would hate to see a kid miss out simply because of a short term financial issue. You don’t have to be on a free or reduced lunch program to have real financial short comings. The county should allow schools to create a special fund to help cover kids that can show in private special cause for needing such financial assistants per request to a sports council.

  22. This $45 fee has generated a lot of interest and words on both sides. Here is something we should be a 1,000 times more upset about that has been going on for at least 4 or 5 years that I am aware of. I am sure many of you are aware of what is happening in our school classrooms. My daughter has not had a text book in math since she entered high school. Each year the teachers simply say that the county does not have the funding. Each month we print out work sheets and information from the teachers book online. We have made it work but my daughter has her own apple mac laptop and we have 3 other laptops and desktops in our house. I can assure you that this is not the case across the county. I am sure there are a lot of kids suffering in the classroom simply because they don’t have access to the same resources. At the end of the day, whether it’s the new $45 sports fee or no textbooks in the classroom, these problems hit those with the less resources the hardest. I have always felt like the schools should allow as equal access to resources, material and opportunity as any parts of our community. These constant and growing financial issues within the county/state will divide us in ways that many will never see but it’s there for many families.

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