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The time has come to provide student athletes and their families at Steamboat Springs High School with a more level playing field. We encourage the Steamboat Springs School Board to approve a plan assembled by a citizens' committee; Dale Mellor, finance director for the Steamboat Springs School District; and Richard Lee, athletics and activities director at the high school.

Last season, students on established Tier 1 teams and clubs paid a base fee of $100 per activity with a maximum of $200 a year. Students in Tier 2 sports including golf, softball, skiing, hockey, tennis, baseball, lacrosse and cheerleading didn't pay a similar base fee. Instead, they and their families assumed all costs associated with their participation. That can mean thousands of dollars for hockey players, for example.

Under the new plan, all students would pay $150 per sport, with a maximum of $300 per year paid to the district. Those fees would cover coaching fees and school district transportation.

Students in Tier 2 sports would still pay for additional costs, including their equipment. But the savings could be several hundred dollars per player.

Steamboat, with an enrollment of about 660 students, is among the smallest schools in Colorado's 4A classification. But SSHS offered more sports and activities than any other 4A school in 2006.

Lee said 461 students took part in sports (including the speech team) in the last school year. However, it's pretty clear a significant number took part in both tiers. Tier 1 sports included 387 athletes and Tier 2 sports included 328. Individual athletes were counted just once in each category, he explained.

It's significant that 471 students also took part in a wide range of extracurricular activities including peer tutoring, Spanish Club, Drama Society, Art Honors and many more.

At first glance, any fee structure that treats students in one sport differently from those in another appears repugnant. However, we understand the historic underpinnings of the two-tier system at Steamboat Springs High School.

It had its genesis in 1974, when parents of cross-country runners created a club team. Faced with budget challenges, the School Board allowed the sport to grow as long as it did not financially impact the district. The boy's soccer team started in a similar way in the mid-1980s. Enthusiastic parents helped the trend to grow.

The Steamboat Springs Booster Club has played an important role in funding school sports here for many years. Under the new program, the boosters will no longer underwrite coaches fees - the district will cover those expenses, as it should. That will free the Booster Club to devote thousands of dollars in annual support to the program costs of Tier 2 sports.

The Sailors' Tier 2 sports have established they are credible and here to stay - the tennis program produced two individual state champions in 2008, one boy and one girl.

The school district has a chance to serve an ace by putting at least coaching and transportation fees on equal footing.