Our sports are free with exception of specific items personal items, like shoes or mouth guards. Football, Soccer, Lacrosse, Baseball, and basketball are big. My kids have been in Soccer, Track, Cross Country, Baseball, Swimming, and Football over the years. Really the cost was only the shoes, mouth guards, shin guards, and swimsuits. The school provides any of the major equipment for football and other sports requiring major equipment.
I know many schools out here (Ohio) charge, it just depends on the district. I happen to very lucky our district is manage financially like a well run business. We have not had deficits issues like others. When budge changes are coming they are normally 3 or 4 years a head of the curve with planning the cost reductions. Our town is the same. I can't say neighboring communities are equally managed. The vast majority seem to be suffering majors cuts and continued deficits looming.
We are in a more affluent area, not the top but comfortable. The parents and community are huge supporters of the schools. Our PTO generally has raised over 100k a year also. Which often funds new playgrounds or equipment in the buildings. Here the voters have to approve any additional funds to the district. Our district asked for 1 operating increase in the last 10years. The voters have never turned them down. I think the district's transparent and well managed budgets make the community comfortable with giving more when asked.
I am always aware of how lucky we are to be in our district. It's just hard to imagine meeting the needs of any kid with 35 or 40 of them in class, never mind outliers on either end. I don't envy the teacher in that position. I can't imagine my kids doing well in that environment. It would make it a lot harder for them. They've all had real hero teachers at times that made a huge difference in their lives. I can't imagine the teachers being able to give the time, attention, and care my kids have gotten with numbers like those. I can get annoyed with the school at times for the hoops we've had to jump through but I know it could be a million times worse.
