and Linda Kor
The Joseph City Unified School District (JCUSD) Governing Board held a special meeting Tuesday, July 21, during which the board discussed charging a fee for youth who participate in school sports if they are recipients of Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) funds. ESA funds are state-funded, government-authorized accounts that route taxpayer money directly to parents to cover approved educational expenses, such as private school tuition, homeschooling curricula, tutoring and special needs therapies. Each family typically receives a $7,000 to $7,500 allotment each year per child. To be eligible for ESA funds families must officially withdraw from their public school and sign a contract agreeing to pay for private school, homeschooling or tutoring instead.
Up until now students who are homeschooled have been allowed to participate in sports in the district at the same cost as enrolled students even though the district does not receive funding for non-enrolled students who take part in school programs.
Superintendent Shannon Harvilla explained that there is no statute regarding what or if a school district should charge ESA recipients and that each district sets its own policy and fees for ESA course enrollment and activity participation.
The item presented to the board was to allow JCUSD to set a rate of $500 per sport or club per ESA youth participant and $250 per sport or club if the child is also enrolled in two or more classes. ESA students currently pay $1,000 per class at the district.
Superintendent Harvilla explained that the district gets no funding from the state to support ESA participants and presented a breakdown cost for each sport per athlete. He said the total cost for wrestling season is $18,766 with 14 athletes. The cost per athlete is $1,341, so even with the fee the district will be paying $841 per athlete. “The only sport where the district would be making money would be cheerleading where we would make $6 per cheerleading. We do apologize for making money off the cheerleaders as we are a public school we are trying to make money no money off anybody and charge fair fees while mitigating the risk to the district.” With the fee the district would still be paying $45 for volleyball, $429 for football and $386 for softball per athlete.
Harvilla noted comparisons with Yuma Union High School District (YUHSD), with a rate of $650 for ESA participants and Dysart Unified School District (DUSD), with a rate of $150 for ESA participants. But information for the 2026-27 school year on the YUHSD website states their fee is $700 per sport for ESA participants and for DUSD, while the students enrolled in the school pay $150 per activity, the cost for ESA participants is $1,500 per activity, per season. Harvilla also noted that many districts do not allow ESA recipients to participate in school sports or classes at all.
For JCUSD, watching the bottom line is imperative. Earlier this year, the Arizona Auditor General reported to the board that the district was one of nine schools in the state listed as “highest-risk school” due to the decrease in student count and failing to adjust its budget to accommodate the reduction. JCUSD is also feeling the impact of student loss more that the surrounding schools. According to the Arizona Department of Education’s Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account Program report, for the third quarter of the 2026 school year, JCUSD had 32 children within the district boundaries receiving ESA funds, compared to Holbrook Unified School District with 12 and Winslow Unified School District which also had 32 but had an enrolled student population of just over 1,800 compared to JCUSD’s enrollment of approximately 440.
LaDawn Penrod, who stated she homeschools her child, spoke during call to the public saying that she felt the fees, specifically athletic participation, were steep, noting that she had contacted numerous schools in area and that the fees ranged from $300 to $60 per ESA athlete. “What I’m looking for is just to have it fair.” She suggested having one flat fee of $1,000 per year for students to participate in as many sports or clubs as they would like. “These kids (ESA recipients) are the ones bringing in the most in fundraisers, bringing in $1,000 to $2,000 and all the kids enrolled in school are the ones benefitting from it,” stated Penrod.
Joseph City High School Principal Eric Miller spoke out stating “Fundraising is a little different because that fundraising they do goes to the sport if they want to have a pizza party or if they want to do something or buy shirts so it really doesn’t help out the district side of it.” He added, “The district’s part of the funds we get from the state go to pay this money for the kids to play sports. I think $500 (per sport) is fair.”
Following that discussion Board Member Karsten Flake made a motion to charge $500 for the first two sports with the third sport free, “We’d like to encourage them to play more sports,” he added. Board Member Lexi Nelson disagreed, “This is going to cost the district more money though, and we’re trying not to bleed money.” The motion was seconded by Board Member Dalton Flake then Nelson reiterated, “It needs to be per sport otherwise the district is going to eat the cost and we’re trying as hard as we can not to lose money right now.” Despite the motion already on the floor, Board Chair Eldon Larsen, who noted that he has a child that is being homeschooled and receives ESA funds, asked members to make a motion to pass the item as originally presented or to motion for the amendment motioned by Karsten Flake. Larsen then made the motion himself to approve the $500 per sport fee as originally presented, with $250 per sport or club if the child is also enrolled in two or more classes, which was seconded by Nelson, with Larsen, Nelson, Dalton Flake and Cat Hansen voting in favor, and Karsten Flake voting against. This decision does not impact homeschooled youth who do not receive ESA funding.
The board then entered into executive session to discuss a faculty member, with no action presented in the meeting.
During the meeting, the board:
* Approved the personnel renewal of Kristen Beatty, Joseph City High School (JCHS), assistant volleyball coach; Wyatt Cox, Joseph City Junior High School, football coach; and Charlsye Miller, JCHS, volleyball head coach.
* Approved the personnel resignation of Greg Case, instructional aide.
* Approved the personnel appointment of Jori Mosier, drama teacher; and Jaylene Richards, instructional aide.
* Approved a travel request for Future Farmers of America (FFA) leadership conference campout from Aug. 7 to 8. FFA students in leadership positions will attend, less than eight students total, with a male and female chaperone. The conference is at no cost to the district.
On Friday, July 24 the board held another special meeting that consisted of one item, which was to approved the resignation of Peter Bushman, Joseph City Elementary School third grade teacher.
