2008-09 MAXPREPS TOP 10 STORIES OF THE YEAR
Ranking: No. 3
What: Economic strife causes cuts and in some cases elimination of high school sports in pockets of the country.
When: Progressive and more severe cuts occurred throughout the year.
Where: Everywhere.
How: With state school budgets being slashed, local boards and decision-makers have been asked to make difficult decisions.
Why significant?: Simply, the participation of high school sports is at stake.
MaxPreps Stories of the Year: A panel of six MaxPreps national writers established the top 10 stories of the year, and voted them in order in terms of national interest, importance and possible future significance.
Friday: No. 2 – The nation’s two most recognizable returning athletes have decided to take different routes to their athletic careers.
ON JULY 4, a day when newspapers traditionally splash hot dog-devouring stories or danger of fireworks exposes or national historical pieces, the Contra Costa Times in Northern California ran a front-page story on high school sports.
No upcoming phenom tale here folks. Nothing patriotic about it either. Quite the contrary actually.
The story focused on how high school sports continue to decay due to shrinking budgets and cost-cutting measures.
Clayton Valley (Concord, Calif.) LBs Vince Buhagiar and Holden Nakamura might need to pay $400 to play next season.
Photo by Dennis Lee
In this story, the local
Mt. Diablo Unified School District’s board of trustees recently voted to slash its entire contributions to athletic programs at six schools for the 2009-10 season, a cut of more than $700,000.
The district introduced a new program where parents split the entire bill to play. A football player, for instance, would be asked to fork over $400 to participate and travel to games.
“To think people have to pay for it, in addition to everything else they have to pay for, shouldn’t be acceptable in the United States,” state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier told the newspaper.
It may not be acceptable, but it’s a reality in virtually every corner of North America.
Below are just a very few of the economic bites that threaten to hinder, if not stomp out high school sports as we know it.
That makes this easily one of the country’s top high school sports stories for 2008-09, if not the most critical and certainly disturbing.
* In Idaho, a small 1A school in Custer County, cut all extracurricular activities from its budget after a $333,000 supplemental levy failed.
Therefore, Mackay High became the first school in the state to do away with all activities, according to John Billetz, executive director of the Idaho High School Activities Association.
The school board there will try again in July to get a supplemental levy passed, but if it isn’t, Mackay, which is the defending state champion in boys basketball, and has won a combined 11 state crowns in basketball and football the last 13 years, will be done with sports.
“The School Board didn’t want to cut anything, but the money just wasn’t there,” Mackay principal Troy Thayne told the Idaho Statesmen.
Said Mackay Athletic Director Jack McKelvey: “It would just be devastating. Without sports, I think you’d see a lot of kids leave, and you lose attendance and it just compounds
* In St. George, Utah, the Washington County school board not only is contemplating dropping all freshman and sophomore programs but has cut funding to all athletic programs and asked the community to help schools make up the shortfall.
Equipment reimbursements were eliminated, six paid coaching positions were cut from each school and activity fees for student athletes increased by more than 20 percent.
“We just have to increase attendance, improve our gates, and the booster clubs will have to step up,” board member Wes Christiansen told the Deseret News. “People will have to help out.”
Said Craig Hammer, the executive director of secondary schools: “I have great faith in the community. The parents have always stepped up.”
* In Honolulu, state budget cuts forced the Hawaii High School Athletic Association’s executive board to slash 20 percent the number of people who qualify to compete at state tournaments in individual sports. Boys and girls golf, judo, tennis, paddling, swimming, wrestling, bowling and cross country are affected.
A 50 percent cut to the state Department of Education’s budget for athletic supplies, equipment and transportation precipitated the decision.
* The Florida High School Athletic Association is considering reducing the maximum number of games for every sport except football in an effort to relieve strapped school districts throughout the state. For most schools football was exempt because it is a money-maker, however, a group known as Florida’s Parents for Athletic Equity is threatening a lawsuit on grounds of Title IX discrimination.
In April, the FHSAA board voted 9-6 to cut the number of varsity games by 20 percent and games below that level by 40 percent, effective for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
* Also in California, Kern High School District trustees gave an OK to cut junior varsity sports as part of a $3.7 million budget reductions for the 2009-10 school year.
The Bakersfield Californian reported that dropping the JV level – varsity and freshman levels would remain – in five core sports would save the district $430,000 annually.
The district is expected to cut $30 million over the next three years.
Liberty head football and baseball coach Tony Mills told the Californian that many kids tell him they stay motivated in school because of sports.
“You hate to see a kid get a dream cut short because they had to take something away,” he said.
The reaction at the top of high school athletics is great concern but confidence that communities will rally.
Bob Kanaby, executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations, told the Associated Press that “First and foremost I think across the board that whatever occurs within a school district of a state that it’s very clear that these are things that are affecting the lives of young people, and people will do whatever they can to minimize that effect as much as possible.”
