BY SARAH CARPENTER (’20)

The district has abolished Pay to Participate for all students participating in athletic activities due to the passage of the latest levy last November. 

Last year, the Pay to Participate program was established in order to compensate for a money gap because of the failure to pass the previous levy in May of 2018. The program created controversy throughout the community.

“I feel like a lot of people didn’t understand that even though we live in Granville it doesn’t mean everyone can spend $200 to play a sport,” senior football player Jimmy Fisher commented. 

However, with the income tax levy passed and more income circulating within the schools, it was decided that Pay to Participate was unnecessary.

“Now that we have a steady flow of income from the tax, the board of education decided that it was in our best interests and in the best interests of our families to get rid of Pay to Participate,” Principal Matt Durst said.

In eliminating the Pay to Participate program, the district hopes to keep students active in different extracurricular programs. 

“What research shows is that schools that implement Pay to Participate over the course of several years consecutively lose participation,” Durst commented. “We have around an 85% participation rate in a school-based extracurriculars and we don’t want to lose that or have that number shrink.”

Currently, there are no future plans to reinstate the Pay to Participate program. 

“Because of the levy being passed, we are in good shape for at least the next five years,” Durst said. “The bottom line is nobody wants to bring in Pay to Participate again, so hopefully it never comes to that.”