While families in some area school districts don’t have to pay anything for their kids to benefit from extracurricular activities such as sports or band, other districts charge fees that can be prohibitively expensive, a Dayton Daily News investigation found.

Districts that charge nothing — such as Miamisburg, Troy, Springfield and Oakwood — say they want to increase student involvement in activities that provide a host of benefits to students’ wellbeing.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, families in some districts pay hundreds of dollars per year on sports, a total that can be doubled or tripled depending on the number of kids in each family and the number of activities each student is involved in. Some, but not all, schools implement a cap on how much one family can pay.

Springboro has one of the more expensive pay-to play-programs in the Dayton region. Here, high school sports come with a fee of $260 each, with junior high sports offered at $160 each. The district has an overall family cap of $1,040.

Springboro resident Jamie Duck is the mother of two high school students, one of whom is enrolled in cross country. Duck said the participation fees are manageable for her family, noting that the benefits of participation in sports outweigh the negatives.

“It teaches them to work hard,” she said, adding that cross country has also given her daughter an opportunity to build relationships. “They’re a pretty strong team and it’s allowed them to make good friendships.”

In the early 2010s, Wayne High School’s sports fees hit $428 per sport as Huber Heights schools faced budget woes, resulting in a drop in participation. Now, the fee per sport for Wayne High School students is $150, with an individual cap of $250 and a family cap of $450.

Centerville is another local district with fees on the higher end of the spectrum, with the most expensive high school activities, including football, totaling $225. Cross country, tennis, swimming, and bowling are offered for $180. The cap for a single high school student is $450, or $563 per family, per year.

Megan Ray is the parent of two Centerville athletes. During the 2022-2023 season, Ray said the family hit their fee cap of $563 as her children were involved in a total of four sports.

“I feel like if they’re enjoying it and they’re involved, then it’s worth it to me,” Ray said of the pay-to-play requirement.

What do fees cover?

For districts that don’t offer free extracurricular participation, each family’s contribution goes toward things like salaries, facilities, and transportation.

Springboro Athletic Director Austin Rhoads said the fees are only a portion of the total cost of a sport.

“They don’t even cover what the district is putting into the athletic programs,” Rhoads said. “We’re not trying to make back all the money spent by the district, but to simply offset the total costs.”

Rhoads noted that in his eight years at AD for Springboro, the district’s participation fees have not gone up.

What if a family can’t afford it?

While most districts with pay-to-participate fees do have family and/or individual caps to hamper overall costs, there may still be some families who simply can’t afford the elective expense.

Rhoads said Springboro offers payment plans to lighten the financial burden on families, and for those students who qualify for the free and reduced lunch program, the participation fee is lowered to $100 for both junior high and high school activities.

“In the past, like during the COVID pandemic, we’ve also offered financial hardship waivers,” he said, adding that this is typically done on a case-by-case basis. “The goal of pay-to-play fees is not to keep someone from playing, so we always try to work with families in those situations.”

Northmont, Centerville, Xenia, and Mad River schools also offer reduced fees for those within the free and reduced lunch program.

The Franklin City School District offers free participation for some students based on income, and Xenia Community Schools waives athletic fees for students who qualify under the McKinney-Vento Act, which ensures equal access to educational opportunities for students experiencing homelessness.

Districts without fees

Some districts, like Troy City Schools, have never implemented a pay-to-play program.

“We are fortunate in that regard,” said David Fong, spokesman for Troy schools. “We know how difficult that would be for some families, and it is important to us to have our students involved in as many extracurricular and co-curricular activities as possible.”

Springfield City Schools previously charged fees, but abolished the requirement beginning in 2007. The decision has been reauthorized by the board of education annually since then.

District officials said they acknowledge many of the students who attend Springfield schools live at or below the poverty line and would be otherwise unable to afford these opportunities.

“The board also sees the potential that these extracurricular activities hold for students to find their passions, develop leadership and social skills, and provide positive outlets for students’ time, creativity, and talents,” said district spokeswoman Jenna Leinasars. “The district’s funding model allows for these costs to be covered in order to prioritize the needs of our students.”

Other districts in the region without pay-to-play fees include Dayton Public, Northridge, Newton and Yellow Springs.

Pay-to-play fees in area school districts

Below is a comparison of how much area school districts charge in fees to participate in high school sports. Source: Dayton Daily News survey of area school districts