The families of student athletes must Pay to Participate in school sports for the 2018-2019 sports seasons due to budget cuts after the levy did not pass in May.

The district had to find another way to make up for the money deficit. To reduce staff cuts, the district brought in Pay to Participate to compensate for the money gap.

“There was about a $640,00 gap between the money that we needed to spend versus what we had to spend,” Principal Matt Durst said. “We had to come up with $640,000 worth of savings that the district was not paying.”

It now costs $200 to participate in one school sport with a cap at $750 per family.

According to Athletic Director Kevin Jarrett, 100% of the pay to participate funds are going towards paying for coaches’ salaries; however, the fees are only covering 40% of the overall cost.

Some students are unclear about the money the school has and how they spend it.

“I did not want to vote for the levy. I just don’t think the school needs more money, but then again, I don’t know how much money the school has,” senior Patrick Steyn said.

Junior Sophie Shaw thought that the pay to participate money was going to clubs and found it annoying that these school clubs did not have to pay to participate.

The impact of these new fees have been noticeable among the families of student athletes in Granville.

“What we get for the sports, like new shoes and things, we are not able to get them because we are using the money to actually play the sports,” said freshman Cate Schieber.

Shaw said that Pay to Participate turns student athletes away from playing sports and that everyone should be able to play school sports for free.

“Unfortunately if the levy does not pass this coming May the Pay to Participate fees will rise next sports season,” said Jarrett.