by Kimberly Melton, The Oregonian
Monday September 07, 2009, 6:00 PM

Motoya Nakamura/The OregonianParkrose High School Dance Team. Each student on the team must raise $525 to pay for costumes and other expenses.

At Parkrose High School, dance team members, all dressed in black, lift one leg off the floor, toes pointing downward as they practice. They reach both arms high into the air as if touching the sky.

Or as if praying for help to pay their fees.

For many metro area students, the start of the school year this week is also the start of seemingly endless fees — to play sports, to sing in school musicals, to play the trombone, to get a yearbook.

In most public schools, students pony up a standard “pay-to-play fee” to participate in state sports, dance or other competitive activities of $50 to $250 depending on the activity and the school district.

Then the real costs begin — students and their parents often must pay hundreds more in team fees.

Among the groups hardest hit for cash are dance and cheerleading teams. They typically must come up with $150 to $600 in team fees for glittery costumes, competition entrance fees, hotels, food, shoes, even fake eyelashes.

“We know that asking for money and the fundraising are things that make people shy away from being on the team,” said senior Tessa James, one of the captains of the Parkrose dance team. “It’s a sacrifice. But we learn life skills that we can take with us.”

Dancers often pay more than football players, for example, whose pay-to-play fee typically includes the uniforms and equipment.

“In many cases, dance and cheer teams have to do fundraisers and purchase their own uniforms,” said Mike Wallmark, associate executive director at the Oregon School Activities Association. “That’s not a typical occurrence in traditional sports.”

Participation at the state dance competition in spring dropped for the third year in 2009. OSAA officials and state dance coaches are still trying to figure out why.

This year, some schools have decreased their fees to help financially strapped families and put more emphasis on fundraising for dance, cheerleading and other activities. And many coaches are reaching into their own pockets to pay for extras.

Increasingly, dance teams around Oregon are trading used uniforms and reusing portable floors that belonged to dance rivals to help cut costs. Some cheerleading teams are using tennis shoes muddied in last year’s football games instead of buying everything new.

At Parkrose, dance team members each must raise $525 to be on the team, slightly less than last year’s $550. The team has placed second in the state’s dance show team division for the past five years and is a popular draw.

Students often go door to door, seeking out small businesses and family members to sponsor them and give $50 to $100 toward a year of dance. Even with sponsorships, most teams use those fundraising favorites — candy sales, bracelets, cookie dough and car washes — to make up the difference.

Parkrose junior Ivanna Tucker was concerned when she joined the team three years ago about where she would find the money. Tucker is part of the East Portland school’s free lunch program.

While students who receive free or reduced price lunches pay a lower pay-to-play rate, they still must come up with the team fee.

“I was scared to go ask people for money,” Tucker said. “I had some difficulties my freshman year. But my last two years, I’ve gotten better. I think I’ve gotten the hang of it.”

This year, for the first time, she has raised nearly all the money before the start of school.

Motoya Nakamura/The OregonianJefferson High School Cheerleaders prepare for their first performance of the year.
Jefferson High
At Jefferson High School, cheerleading coach Elizabeth Richards spent the day before the team’s first cheerleading performance out at stores shopping for earrings for her team. Richards is also attending school-bus driving classes because she will need to drive the team on a school bus to most away games. For students, the team fee is about $200 each year.

“I try to make sure all the girls come up with their money,” Richards said. “I ask the parents to contact me and talk it over. Some girls were not able to completely come out-of-pocket so we did a car wash to get the rest of the money.”

Sixteen-year-old Goddeua Calhoun, a Jefferson junior, said she and her mother had a long talk about the cost of cheerleading before she joined the team and her mother paid the fees.

“She wanted to know if it was something I really wanted to do or just something to do,” said Calhoun, one of the team’s captains this year. “It’s something I cherish and put my all into.”

Tigard High
More and more coaches must find ways to pinch pennies. Linda Sheron has been coaching dance at Tigard High School for 34 years, and said she knows just about every trick in the book.

After paying a $200 participation fee to Tigard High, students on the team pay $150 to a team fund, then do fundraising during the year to make money for competitions and travel.

And she has learned how to save money from previous years, reuse costumes and borrow costumes from other schools. Usually teams buy their new uniforms in the spring for state competition. This year, Sheron said her team probably won’t buy new tops for fall because of money.

Cleveland High
Both Tigard and Cleveland High School host tuition-based dance clinics for younger students, which helps raise money for the team. Cleveland High School’s dance team hosts Mr. Cleveland, a male student pageant, and charges admission to the event to raise money.
At Parkrose, assistant dance coach Caysie Duax has been getting outfits at bargain prices for nearly a decade. Typically, the outfits can range from $80 to $300 apiece.

Duax, an airline employee, and fellow coaches head down to Los Angeles’ fashion district on discounted airfare rates to buy outfits at $25 to $40 per student.

That cuts down on the fundraising the 38-member team must do each year, which normally totals $14,000 to $16,000. The school creates accounts for the students and helps parents understand where every dollar goes.

“It always seems like a lot of money but if they see what we do, how we do it, they understand,” Duax said. “Everyone has to fundraise. If you want to be able to dance at football games, in front of your school, you can reach that goal. You have to work towards it.”

– Kimberly Melton: kimmelton@news.oregonian.com