Pay-to-Play Nearly Sidelined Student’s Future

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“Jamilla may have to quit,” my friend Bob said. “She’s not the only one. This new ‘pay-to-play’ policy could wipe out two-thirds of my team.”

Bob was the girls’ soccer coach at our urban high school. For several years he had been growing his program. Finally, his girls were becoming competitive in their league.

But our school faced major budget cuts. Electives were eliminated. Purchases of any but the most basic supplies were cut. We learned to be creative about re-using copy paper in the teachers’ workroom, because when the current supply was gone there would be no more. The media center couldn’t buy new books.

The school’s “pay-to-play” policy was one more cost-saving measure. Now, in addition to maintaining at least a C grade-point average, our student athletes had to pay a small fee to be on a team. The district still covered most of the cost—but even a small fee was too high for some of our students, in a school where most students received free and reduced-cost lunch.

I knew Jamilla was Bob’s star player. Before soccer, she’d been a troublemaker as a freshman. But Bob helped channel her high energy levels into training hard and taking a leadership role on the team. Being in soccer had motivated her. She went from earning Ds and Fs to being a promising athlete making Cs and Bs. Now a senior, she played well enough that Bob was trying to interest college coaches to recruit her.

“Her mom lost her job, so the family’s in a tight spot,” Bob said. “I offered to pay Jamilla’s fee, but she won’t hear of it.”

I knew the family; this did not surprise me.

“Mom will only accept money if Jamilla earns it,” Bob said. “I think it’s time for a team meeting about fund-raisers.”

And fund raise they did. Over the next few weeks the team seemed to be everywhere—washing cars, doing yard work and even babysitting during a neighborhood church’s carnival. The local weekly shopper published a feature about them from the school paper. Within 10 days Bob’s team received three checks from people in the community.

The fund-raisers paid every team member’s fee. They even had money to buy two new balls.

Bob had always insisted his athletes work hard, so he expected to see them put their full effort into fund-raising. But when the community took up the challenge, it surprised many people. This was not a wealthy neighborhood, but seeing “our girls” working so hard seemed to move them. Bob also noticed an upswing in home-game attendance.

The problem with “pay-to-play” fees is that the economics of a student’s family will determine whether or not they can benefit from a valuable resource. Of course the future of a student or a team should never hinge on fund-raising efforts. But in this case, the effort mattered. Jamilla stayed on the team. She got a scholarship to a local community college, finished a degree in a skilled trade and now has a job she loves. Every child should have these options.

Gephardt teaches private art classes in Kansas.