Texas students are feeling the impact of more than $5 billion in state budget cuts, according to a recent survey of state public school superintendents conducted by the Texas American Federation of Teachers.
To compensate for lost funding elsewhere, a handful of Texas superintendents reported that their districts are charging fees for extracurricular activities, such as school sports.
The survey compiled results from 241 district superintendents across the state. In total, 5 percent of respondents said their districts charged for extracurriculars.
Of course, Texas schools aren’t the only ones charging K-12 students to play sports. According to a 2009 survey from the National Federation of State High School Associations, 33 states reported having at least one school that charged participation fees for sports or other extracurriculars.
For one rural Texas district, pay-to-play fees would be the least of their sports-related concerns at the moment.
The Premont Independent School District will be eliminating all sports teams (for the time being) as a cost-cutting measure, according to the .