New Florida law leads Polk County Schools to add $400 sports fee for non-public student-athletes
$400 athletic fee approved
The Polk County School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a new $400 activity fee for certain non-traditional student-athletes participating in district sports. FOX 13's Haley Hinds reports.
LAKELAND, Fla. - The Polk County School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a new $400 activity fee for certain non-traditional student-athletes participating in district sports.
Senate Bill 538 changes
What we know:
A new state law standardizes student athletic eligibility across public, charter, private and homeschool students.
Starting July 1, students generally must participate in athletics within the district or county where they live. If their school doesn't offer a sport, they may play at another school within their district, or in limited cases, an adjacent district if no option exists.
The law also restricts students from playing for two different schools in the same school year, unless criteria are met.
Under the new legislation, schools are now allowed to charge a participation fee.
Rising athletic costs
Why you should care:
The district says the funds collected from the $400 fee will be returned directly to schools to help cover increasing operational costs.
This includes paying for transportation, uniforms, field maintenance, event security and official umpire costs.
Polk County School Board member Sarah Beth Wyatt said the financial support is long overdue for the district.
"We still get to pay all the expenses for football, which is really expensive, or cheerleading, which is really expensive, but don't get any income to help support that," Wyatt said. "I'm thrilled to level the playing field a little bit."
Fee application questions
What we don't know:
District officials noted there is still some gray area about exactly who will be required to pay the new fee.
Last year, about 400 non-traditional student-athletes participated in Polk County sports, but the exact wording of the law presents a challenge.
"There's a discrepancy in the law," Senior Director of Athletics Dan Talbot said. "The way we thought of it by way of FHSAA is that we cannot charge homeschool students or charter school students — only charge private school students."
Future financial support
What's next:
Talbot added that the actual cost to fund these sports programs per student easily exceeds the $400 mark.
The district could eventually have the ability to offer needs-based discretion for families as they navigate the new rules.
The changes and the new fee officially take effect on July 1.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the Tuesday Polk County School Board meeting, which included quotes from board member Sarah Beth Wyatt and Senior Director of Athletics Dan Talbot.