As of the 2026–2027 school year, PPS has implemented an extracurricular activity fee for students at PMS and PHS. The fee will require high school students to pay $150 if they participate in any clubs or sports, while middle school students will pay $100.
High school fees for clubs will be collected starting in November and extend to all activities that are funded by the school, including band, athletic teams, and teacher-supervised clubs such as Model UN, the Tower, and Yearbook, among various others. The fee has been implemented to tackle budget constraints such as transportation, healthcare, and more — with all proceeds going directly to the district general fund where money can be allocated accordingly.
Each year, the school district faces various financial challenges, to which an activity fee was the solution brought up in a budget proposal from last year.
“[The] school budget is often driven by various market factors such as healthcare, transportation cost, and … other contract-based factors such as salary. So a piece of paper may be more expensive this year. The eggs in the cafeteria [are] … a lot more expensive compared to two years ago,” said PHS Principal Birge. “Bottom line is that if we don’t have more revenue, we cannot keep the school running at the current level. Then we’re talking about reduction of hopefully not staff members as well as cancelation of programs. So at the same time, activity fee is widely used as an approach that helps with this budget crunch.”
Birge also confirms that the fee will likely continue in following years, even increasing to keep up with rising expenses. However, financial aid options are available, and the fee will be covered for students on free and reduced lunch programs.
Furthermore, although students involved in any activity that puts a cost on the school will be expected to pay the cost, they only have to pay the fee once at the beginning of the fall semester to cover their involvement for the rest of the year.
“A lot of athletes do play multiple sports. So once you’ve paid for one in the fall, then you don’t have to think about it again,” said PHS Counselor Diana Lygas.
For students who have not yet participated in any of the included activities but want to join a club, they are given a period where they can try out a club before committing to it and paying. In November, clubs will start to finalize their members, sending a list to administration — all confirmed members will then receive an invoice in MySchoolBucks for the activity fee.
“Probably the most important thing is that students should not [think] ‘I am not going to try this club out if there is a fee.’ That fee shouldn’t … be a deterrent for students not to try something. Trying is okay, but if you’re participating consistently, that’s when there’s a cost, and we want everybody to chip in to help shoulder that cost,” said Birge.
Nevertheless, skepticism has arisen amongst students, parents, and the community about the validity of the required fee. Claire McLeod ’29, both a field hockey and basketball player for the school team, voiced her concerns.
“I think [the fee] can be important for sports because you have to pay for the equipment, but specifically for clubs, I feel like it’s a bit irrelevant because a lot of them are student-run and I have a feeling the money will not be going back to the students to help them with the clubs,” said McLeod.
Furthermore, many sports teams have their own booster clubs that require a payment, so some athletes may end up paying more than $150.
“My mom got a little annoyed because she had to pay … a booster club thing ... for field hockey,” said McLeod.
The leadership team at PHS remains committed to preserving the school’s quality this year while still working on balancing budget concerns.
“I think anything that we can do to support the level of services provided for all of our students, we all consider that important,” said Birge. “Our job at the building level … is to make sure that we come up with an approach that makes sense for our students and families, so that we are not in jail with a big bill unexpectedly.”