H-BC decides to pay MSHSL extra fees

The Hills-Beaver Creek School District made a final payment of $3,156 last week to the Minnesota State High School League, ending a seven-month standoff with the non-profit interscholastic high school sports organization.
The amount is in addition to a $1,161 payment in December.
Board members were quiet before the payment was approved during their June 14 meeting.
The action reverses a resolution the board passed in December, where board members declined to pay an additional $28.22 per student fee while larger schools paid a lower amount. H-BC proposed a more modest payment of $1,161 because MSHSL was placing a “greater financial burden on smaller classification members.”
Representatives of the smaller classified “A” schools recently met with MSHSL officials who clarified the formula used to determine the additional payments.
They would reduce MSHSL debt and reflected students competing annually in more than one MSHSL activity offered in the winter, fall and spring each year.
Prior to the vote, director Ethan Rozeboom inquired if MSHSL officials have put plans into place to prevent falling into operating debt again. Superintendent Todd Holthaus was unaware of any solid plans to sell sponsorships to events.
Fees for the next school year won’t be known until the fall. A new, possibly more equitable formula is being developed, Holthaus said.
After the meeting Holthaus said the district is paying the amount the MSHSL governing board requested last fall. That amount, $4,317, was in addition to regular membership fees.
The extra money would assist to reduce MSHSL’s operating debt. The debt was created when the coronavirus pandemic canceled the large income-generating state tournaments in 2020.
H-BC had 104 high school students during the 2020-21 school year.