Analysis: Town and Schools

School user and athletic fees: what they can raise

Athletic, activity and bus fees pushed to the most each can ever raise add $346k against the budget — 37% of next year’s gap. Every fee has a peak, because past a price families stop paying; 2 of the three can reach self-funding. Special education transport, $650k, may not be charged for at all.

lunenburgbudgetproject.org — written by the Lunenburg Budget Project, an independent tool for residents. Not affiliated with the Town of Lunenburg, the School Committee or the school district. The data this page is computed from: /data/model.json

What this report counts

A projection from the district’s own fee schedules, participation counts and the cost of each programme: what each fee yields now, at the price where the programme pays for itself, and at the price where it raises the most it ever can. Dollars against the appropriation, net of what is already collected; not what a family pays, which is on its own page.

$346k

the most all three fees can add against the budget, at once, at their peaks

37%

of next year’s $930k gap that is

not 1 yr

it covers — by FY28 the gap is $584k past it

$650k

of transport no fee may touch — special education

If you read nothing else

01$346k

Every fee at its peak adds $346k: 37% of the gap, and none of the programmes cut.

Athletics: $158,007 more than today, at a fee that makes it pay for itself. Band, music and clubs: $106,244 more than today, at a fee that makes it pay for itself. School buses: $81,746 more than today, and it cannot reach self-funding at any price. Worth doing on the model’s arithmetic; not a solution, because the gap grows 3.2% a year and a fee does not.

022 of 3

A fee has a peak. Raise it past that and it raises less, because families stop paying — 2 of the three programmes can pay for themselves before their peak.

Athletics costs $345,458; at $390 it raises $187,451 (54%), and the most it can raise is $358,380 at $1,185 (104%). Band, music and clubs costs $106,244; at $0 it raises $0 (0%), and the most it can raise is $132,812 at $835 (125%). School buses costs $1,053,360; at $180 it raises $64,260 (6%), and the most it can raise is $146,006 at $715 (14%).

03not 1 yr

The whole fee package does not cover even next year: $584k short in FY28, and further behind every year after.

A fee is an amount; it grows, at best, with the programme it funds (3% here). The gap is a rate. So the package that closes 37% of next year closes less of every year after, and never a whole one. It is the honest first thing to do, and it changes nothing about the direction.

What this does not show

Who stops playing. The peak is where the model’s demand curve turns, calibrated to the district’s own participation counts; it does not know which children leave a team at $400 or which families are waived. And one accounting question is open: WHY the fund collects more than the published fee schedule can explain. It took in $188,944 net in FY26, which is 45% above what the schedule and our sibling and waiver assumptions produce, and implies $287.82 per high school participation against a $250 first-child fee. A blended rate cannot exceed its top tier, so either participations are undercounted or there are surcharges outside any schedule we hold. The two imply different answers to what a fee rise is worth, so every fee figure here is a range rather than a number.

Read each fee, at each priceThe full version2 min

Each fee: now, self-funding, and the peak

programme	costs	fee now	raises now	self-funds at	peak fee	peak raises	adds
AthleticsEvery sport, its coaches, the trainer and the buses · 582 payers	$345,458	$390	$187,451	$960	$1,185	$358,380	$158,007
Band, music and clubsThe high school music position, supplies, band transport and club advisors	$106,244	$0	$0	$465	$835	$132,812	$106,244
School busesGeneral education transport — special education transport cannot be charged for	$1,053,360	$180	$64,260	never	$715	$146,006	$81,746

Athletics: $960 a season is roughly a 140% increase on a fee that just rose 60%, and it buys only the teams that survived — no full-time trainer, no restored coaching stipends, no middle school. Everything above $345,458 is unreachable at any price: revenue peaks near $1,185 at about $358,000. And the budgeted athletic director line is a $20,000 stipend that no longer reflects a full-time role, so even these targets are understated.

Band, music and clubs: Participation is a placeholder: the district does not publish it. At $465 these programs self-fund on paper, but that is a steep charge for a club, and the students who quit first are the ones for whom the club is the reason they come to school.

School buses: Self-funding transport is not remotely reachable — general-education transport costs $1,053,360 and revenue peaks near $146,000. Special education transport ($649,953) cannot be charged for at all. Higher fees also push families into cars, which raises per-rider cost on the routes that remain.

What the package covers, year by year

The whole $346k, growing 3% a year with the programmes it funds, against the gap.

year	the gap	the fees	short by
FY28	$930,273	$345,997	$584,276
FY29	$1,530,474	$356,377	$1,174,097
FY30	$2,197,945	$367,068	$1,830,877
FY31	$2,938,165	$378,080	$2,560,085
FY32	$3,757,043	$389,423	$3,367,620
FY33	$4,660,955	$401,105	$4,259,850

Who pays

The families whose children play, perform or ride — and, at the peak, the ones who stop. What that comes to per household, with siblings and waivers, is on what a family actually pays: the same fees, seen from the kitchen table.

What it does not do

It does not change the rate, and it does not reach the biggest transport line: $650k of special education transport is required and unchargeable. A fee that funds a programme also makes that programme’s budget line net of the fee — rule 11 on this site — so the line will look smaller without the cost having moved.

What would settle it: the district’s participation counts by fee tier for the current year (the demand curve here is calibrated to the last published ones), and the revolving fund’s cashbook, which says what the fees actually brought in.

What a family actually pays →The measurement this page draws on.Every option, side by side →Priced the same way, to five years and ten.The crisis page →Why it is a rate problem, in five numbers.

Every other report

The budget feed — every board, everything about money →What the town is deciding now →The blog — one finding at a time, in two minutes →This week in town — meetings coming up, minutes and recordings just posted →The boards — each one, in one place →Meeting minutes — written from the recordings →Lunenburg by the numbers — who lives here →Lunenburg’s homes and the tax bill →Homes and students — the town builds, the schools do not grow →The boards, compared →Youth sports and the fields →The School Committee’s finances — every fund and line it owns →Parks & Recreation — the department, its fund, its sales, its grounds →Health insurance →Free cash — can it fill the gap? →Teacher contracts →Extracurriculars — sports, music and clubs →Classroom positions and class size →Overrides →Commercial development and new growth →Special education — four reports →How many students one special education group may have →The circuit breaker — what the state reimburses for the costliest placements →What other districts spend, for each pupil →What the state requires us to spend — and where that puts us →Chapter 70 — the formula, and why it pays the floor →How Chapter 70 actually works, in eight steps →School staffing — did it go up, and over which years →Who works in each school →The paraprofessionals →What courses actually ran, subject by subject →AP exams — who sits them, in what, and how they score →The cut register — what was announced, and what shows →Funding that stopped →When a grant ends — who picks up the bill →Who is in the schools — enrolment, FY1994 to today →Which grades students leave in →Who leaves Lunenburg schools, and where they go →Monty Tech — the assessment, and what sets it →If students leave — what school choice would cost →What a family actually pays →What sports cost, and who pays →Health insurance — the cost outside the school budget →Budget against reported spending →

Every analysis this project has written, in one index, is at reports.