Frisco ISD athletes have always paid a small fee to cover game-day meal plans and extra gear. It was not until recently that the district introduced a mandatory $200 fee for athletes to pay in order to play sports.

This is a result of the Tax Ratification Election or TRE that took place in Frisco last year. The purpose of the election was to raise the tax rate from $1.04 to $1.17.

“We were cut from the state with the funding of about $30 million, and then we tried to pass the TRE to replace that, and it didn’t pass, it failed. So we don’t have as [many] funds to do that,  and how that helps us to just continue with all athletic operations,”  Head Boys Coordinator Kyle Story said.  

“So basically when the TRE didn’t pass, we had a shortcoming in athletics for our daily operations, and so those fees kind of, they help in our operations, our daily operations for athletics,” Head Girls Coordinator Amy Matlock said.

The fees enable athletic programs to take care of basic things necessary to succeed in their specific programs.

“It helps the athletic department cover all expenses they need to get [to] the games, the fields..field acquiring, bussing to them, referee cost,” Athletic Parent Dianne Harris said.

“So to pay for the buses and transportation, officials, game workers, security personnel, we also pay for laundry detergent, just basic operating things we have in the athletic department,” Story said.

Athletes and students understand that the growing population in Frisco requires a fee in order to continue business as usual.

“I think the purpose behind the fee is to support all [the] schools Frisco is building,”  junior Jason Morgan said.

“We get more and more students every year in Frisco ISD, more and more athletes, but our budgets haven’t increased,” Story said.

“In general, I think it’s just one of those things now that we have to do, something that we can’t really be concerned with as far as whether or not we’re gonna have it,” Matlock said.

Despite the slight budget cuts in the district, the operational fee is able to positively help athletic programs, coaches, and players.