The Evanston Township High School Board of Education decided Monday to delay voting on the possible requirement of activity fees until early next spring.

No new fees will be instituted for the upcoming school year, and most activities lost in last year’s budget cuts will not return.

ETHS Chief Financial Officer and Board Secretary William Stafford said the board would first need to consider all other options and to further plan how to implement the fee.

The idea of implementing a fee to help reinstate activities and athletics that lost funding because of last year’s budget cuts was put forth by both Stafford and District 202 Superintendent Allan Alson at the board’s May 8 meeting.

A $125 participation fee was proposed for all registered students except financially needy students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Since then, board members have heard input from parents and faculty.

“My e-mail was constantly filled up,” former board president Mary Wilkerson said. “I was overwhelmed by the amount of support.”

The few negative messages Wilkerson received were mainly from people with limited income who were not on the free or reduced-price lunch plan but would still have a hard time paying an extra fee, she said.

Many people were willing to pay more than $125 to help out those people, Wilkerson said.

Despite the support, Alson asked whether the fee should only apply to those who participate and whether families with more than one child involved in an activity should pay multiple fees.

He also asked whether the fee should be higher for activities that cost more to run.

The board will examine fees currently charged at local elementary and middle schools. Families of students at those schools are expected to pay several fees for the 2006-2007 school year, including a general student fee, a classroom activities fee and participation fees that are collected as needed.

For now, the only way programs cut from District 202 can return is by finding a volunteer to coach the activity, as did the ETHS dance team, which will return in the fall. Volunteers must be approved by administrators.

The board also will try to find money for the cut activities by considering corporate sponsorships and reviewing stipends currently paid to coaches and to activity moderators.

Reach Anna Prior at [email protected].