By Geena Monahan–For the North Star Reporter
Facing a $137,000 deficit in the athletics budget for FY26, the School Committee voted unanimously in favor of increasing user fees for the district’s student athletes.
While all seven committee members at the June 10 meeting voted for an increase that would bring a much-needed $100,000 to the Athletics Department, those votes weren’t cast without concerns.
Committee members Charlie Peters and Gideon Gaudette brought up the inequitable nature of increasing user fees only for sports, instead of all extracurricular activities, as well as charging sports like track and field the same amount as football or baseball.
“This doesn’t feel equitable for everybody when it’s not paid on a scale related to how much that sport costs,” said Peters.
“I wish we didn’t have to do it at all, but that’s what we are forced into,” Gaudette said. “These are all lumped under extracurricular activities and it just doesn’t seem fair to tax one large group and not the others, and maybe we will, but that’s not on the table tonight.”
Currently, user fees are set at $150 per sport, with a $600 cap per family. With the increase, athletes will now pay $250 per sport, bringing the family cap up to $750. The new fees will take effect this upcoming season.
North Attleborough has traditionally relied on these user fees, along with gate receipts, to fund the Athletics Department. Last year, user fees and gate receipts brought in $183,000.
The total available to fund athletics for FY26 is $699,422, which falls short of the projected $836,602 in operating costs.
At the May 6 School Committee meeting, Superintendent John Antonucci outlined this plan to fund athletics, stating that these increases will allow the school system to create a sustainable plan for the future to ensure that athletics remain properly funded.
“Honestly, we need to do it. I very strongly recommend we fund athletics and increase the user fee. I don’t want to do it, no one likes it, we’ve gone on record, but we need to fund it,” said Antonucci in May. “It is a core part of our educational program. The fact that we’ve ignored it for 30 years, just doesn’t make any sense. . . we just have to get whole.”
Transportation a top cost
According to Gilbert Lafort, director of finance for North Attleborough Public Schools, the cost of athletics operations is hitting all school districts hard. In the budget overview that Antonucci presented to the School Committee more than a month ago, salaries, transportation and officials were listed as the top three drivers for increased operating costs.
“We’re not looking to hit every family because that’s not our intent,” said Lafort. “We’re close to $150,000 that we cannot fund and most of that is in transportation.”
According to Lafort, three years ago the cost of transportation for athletics was $37,000, increasing to $85,000 last year and now almost double that. Lafort also pointed out that even at the increased cost of $250 per sport, North Attleborough is still in the “relatively low” range compared to what area school districts charge.
“As our user fees start to be collected, we run out of money real fast. Bussing just keeps going up and up and up. Every district is being hit with a large transportation cost,” said Lafort. “Every expense we have, we’re seeing anywhere from a 10 to 40% increase in those expenses across the board.”
In response to the concerns brought up that night, Chair Tasha Buzzell reminded the committee that the Town Council has already voted and approved its $113.3 million budget, and there is simply no money set aside to fund the Athletic Department deficit.
“What we do know is the town funded the budget only as far as the increases on salaries. That’s it. That’s all we have,” said Buzzell. “So, if we don’t increase this, we have an even bigger deficit that could lead to a larger structural deficit that could lead to cuts in programs.”
Buzzell also noted that there are scholarship opportunities available to those who can’t afford the costs to play sports.
“Anyone who can’t pay this fee, in theory, my understanding is that it’s intended to increase access,” said Buzzell. “I don’t want anyone to think this is a hard $250 no matter what.”
Hockey is the one sport that will not be affected by the vote; costs will remain at $450 for sub-varsity and $600 for varsity.
The committee was slated to vote on its final budget Tuesday night, but due to an unexpected family emergency, Antonucci was unable to attend and present the final budget alongside Buzzell. The committee agreed to reschedule for June 24 at 6 p.m.
“I hate that we have so many fees in the district,” said committee member Sarah Stone. “I think it just speaks to our budget restraints, and when we have that conversation coming up soon, we’ll think back to this for sure.”