City district students can attend games for free

Published 8:50 am Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Thanks to recent action taken by the Harlan Independent Board of Education, Harlan students will have a little extra cash in their pockets this year.

After a review of regional ticket prices for athletic events, the board of education elected to allow all Harlan Independent Schools students to attend athletic events for free during the 2019-20 school year. Noting ticket prices had not been revisited in nearly seven years, Harlan Independent Schools Superintendent C.D. Morton provided the board with a review of ticket prices for middle and high school competitions from 12 districts in the surrounding region.

Morton pointed out that Harlan Independent already had the lowest student ticket prices in the region among high schools and that several other districts had provisions that allowed their students to attend for free.

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“We want to encourage more of our students and families to come out to support our student-athletes,” Morton said. “We recognize that families with multiple children are often hit hard when it comes to attending athletic events. This is an effort to try and alleviate that burden.”

District finance officer Tara Bryson noted, “At least one district that elected to allow their students to attend for free actually saw an increase in paying adults attending events over the course of the year, this obviously had a positive impact on overall revenue.”

The district plans to review ticket sales from prior years and revisit the issue next year. Adult ticket prices will remain $5 for all high school events, while single-game middle school events will be $3. Competitions that involve multiple middle school games will be $5.