City Section ready to collect $24 contribution for buses

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High school athletes in the City Section are being asked to contribute $24 to help pay for a $650,000 cut in transportation funding.

It is being called a contribution, not a fee, because if a student doesn’t contribute the $24, it will not affect his or her sports participation.

But it’s clear if students and their parents don’t contribute, additional games could be reduced from the sports schedule because the contributions will help pay for buses.

And it’s pretty cheap compared to what other districts are charging. A Calabasas parent said he pays $200 a year for bus transportation.

Even more intriguing is that the person put in charge of collecting the money will be each school’s athletic director. Now, athletic directors are supposed to be pretty good about dealing with money issues, but they’re going to have to write receipts for each family that submits a $24 contribution, not to mention find a place to store the money. This could be quite interesting during a time when they’re also putting together schedules and eligibility rosters.

Charter schools are not included in the request. Schools are expected to include a letter from the Los Angeles Unified School District seeking the contributions in eligibility packets sent to parents.

-- Eric Sondheimer