Pay to Play challenged by ACLU

This is an interesting and potentially very troubling development to say the least.

Now, it goes without saying that I am fundamentally against these "pay to play" fees that are being assessed as part of the athletic programs at high schools across the country. They make participation in these programs out of reach for low-income families. You set up a tiered system of "scholarship" and "non-scholarship" athletes at the high-school level. They chase people out and make participation in sports at the public high schools into a "country-club" activity for the elite and the affluent only.

So why would I be against the involvement in the ACLU to overturn these fees in Rhode Island?

http://www.projo.com/news/content/ACLU_SPORTS_FEES_12-22-09_N4GSEH2_v22.5d18.html?referer=d1a38dbaf3c5c3b7d2fad43e9b99a392

The school system’s policy of charging middle and high school athletes a fee to play interscholastic sports is against the law and should be thrown out, the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union charged Monday.

The ACLU said it will ask the state Department of Education to declare the policy “null, void and unlawful,” to refund any fees paid and to destroy any applications for waivers of the fees the School Department may have received.

The ACLU said the Department of Education had ruled — at least five times before in similar cases — that charging fees for sports was illegal and that poor families should not have to seek a charitable waiver for their children to play for their schools’ sports teams.

School Committee Chairman Robert E. Lafleur said Monday he had not seen the complaint and couldn’t comment specifically, but he added that the the committee believed the policy as approved could withstand a legal challenge.

“We feel comfortable and confident with the policy that is in place,” he said.

It's easy. You can see where this will go as easy as I can.

What happens in Rhode Island in this case--contrary to what happens in Las Vegas-- does not stay in Rhode Island. It spreads quickly and virulently across the country.

If the ACLU does succeed in this case, what will be the result? The costs will be back in the school system's lap and as we well know, the first thing these public school administrators will cut is extra-curricular activities of ALL KINDS. NOT JUST SPORTS.

They don't go after their own corpulent bureaucracy. They go after sports, and the band, and the drama club, and the chess club.....and on and on.

When plans for the fee were first announced last summer, the Rhode Island Interscholastic League asked the state for an advisory opinion on its legality. At that time, Commissioner of Education Deborah A. Gist said state law forbids districts to charge student athletes fees as a way to finance sports programs

Gist wrote that “except in a very few cases, the General Assembly has not granted school committees the authority to charge fees for school services.”

The system set up by the School Committee sets a $150 per-athlete per-sport fee, with a seasonal cap of $275 for families with more than one athlete playing in a given season. No family can be charged more than $550 for the entire school year.

Families may also seek waivers based on income or request one even if their income exceeds the criteria. The School Department has said no student would be denied a spot on a roster because of non-payment.

The ACLU argued that regardless of the committee’s decision not to enforce the policy, it remains in effect and therefore should be challenged and invalidated.

The money raised by charging the middle and high school interscholastic athlete athletes was intend intended to cover the approximately $40,000 it costs to run the school system’s sports programs. As of October, it had only raised about a tenth of that amount.

I suppose they could just change their state law and throw it back in the school's lap but the residual damage of CYA will have been done. Many of these administrators do not see any inherent value in these programs anyway, which is staggering considering that they are in the business of providing a well-rounded education. They will take a deep breath regardless of where this ends up and take the path of least resistance.

THAT'S WHAT COWARDS DO!!!