Schools all across America dealing with severe budget issues

<p>This land is your land, this land is my land. And it's broke.</p><p>From the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters, high school sports programs are finding themselves on the defensive. It became a local issue Wednesday night, when the Santa Rosa school board voted to adopt sweeping cuts in education that include the elimination of all middle and high school spring sports in 2011. But it's also part of a national trend.</p><p>A Sept. 2, 2009 article in USA Today broke down budget cuts in Lansing, Mich. Among the affected high schools were East Lansing (three assistant coaches, some transportation, no funding for bowling teams), Grand Ledge (some JV assistant coaches, no new uniforms, less equipment, consideration of funding half of transportation) and Lansing Everett, Easton and Sexton (one football, one wrestling, two swimming and two track assistants at each school).</p><p>South-Western City Schools, in and around Columbus, Ohio, eliminated all sports and went through the fall season with no games, but recently reinstated its programs.</p><p>Fairfax County (Va.) eliminated frosh sports, winter cheerleading and indoor track, reduced dive and swim practice time by 50 percent and is considering a $100 fee per student to play sports.</p><p>The Darlington County (S.C.) School Board plans to cut athletic travel by 20 percent.</p><p>Here in California, Pleasanton eliminated coaching stipends at Foothill and Amador high schools and asked for donations from athletes to compensate; Elk Grove cut all athletic funding for the coming year in November, and while looking for ways to keep its sports, is likely to eliminate all freshman teams in 2010-11; the Paso Robles school district has a 50-percent cut to the athletic budget on the table; and the East Side Union High School district in San Jose initially voted to eliminate sports in Dec. 2008, then said the programs could remain if they were self-funded.</p><p>Still, if Santa Rosa is part of a larger movement, it may stand out in the crowd. According to national and state athletic officials, eliminating entire programs remains a rarity.</p><p>“The idea of discontinuing programs is not one that's being widely proposed or accepted,” said Bruce Whitehead, executive director of the National Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association in Indianapolis. “A lot of districts are feeling the financial crunch. I just visited a district (Wednesday) night in Franklin Township, Indiana, that is instituting a participation payment. But in terms of flat-out saying you're discontinuing programs, it's not common.”</p><p>In their effort to protect existing teams, school districts are trying all manner of ways to scrimp and save. Freshman and JV teams are playing fewer games. Teams are traveling less for non-league games, and signing up for fewer tournaments. Coaches' stipends are being cut. But for the most part, teams are clinging to life.</p><p>“If you totally eliminate a program, it's hard to get it going again,” Whitehead said. “The startup costs tend to be very excessive.”</p><p>More and more school districts are adopting a pay-to-play plan, wherein each student contributes a set fee — typically $100 to $150 — to play a sport. Quwan Spears, sports information officer for the California Interscholastic Federation in Sacramento, said it's illegal to demand fees for participation. But schools can ask for voluntary payment under the threat of canceling seasons.</p><p>The CIF is taking an active role in advocating for sports programs. Associate executive director Roger Blake offered a defense at a California School Boards conference in San Diego in December, and has taken his presentation on the road to individual school districts.</p><p>“We'll do it anytime, anyplace someone asks us to,” Blake said.</p><p>His message is not emotional, or even inspirational. It's oriented to the bottom line. Blake cites a study conducted in the state of North Carolina that found students involved in sports and other after-school activities came to school, on average, six more days per year than the non-involved. That's an important note for schools that receive much of their funding through the average daily attendance (ADA) system.</p><p>“Coaches talk to kids, and they know if they don't practice, they can't play,” Blake said. “A kid might have a cold, have some sniffles. The athletes come to school.”</p><p>High school athletes also tend to have higher GPAs than the general population nationwide.</p><p>Of course, it isn't just a practical matter. Even a bureaucratic official can see the nobility in athletics. </p><p>“In my personal opinion, the reason the country is in the shape it's in is because our leaders have forgotten, if they ever knew, values like integrity, honesty, being able to get along in a group situation. Those qualities aren't taught in an academic classroom. Where will we teach those values to the young people of our country?” said Whitehead, who spent 25 years as an athletic director.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.</p>