tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8895200797299787815.post-19423736543170517002007-09-24T17:03:00.000-05:002007-09-24T17:03:00.000-05:00It has been awhile since I asked for the information (probably 5 years or so) of the "net" cost of athletics -- after ticket revenues were accounted for --- at the time I was told the figure was around $1 million. <BR/><BR/>Whether individual sports bring in more in ticket revenues than the district spends on them I don't know, though I doubt it unless you are strictly talking about Varsity Basketball and Football -- they might come close. Overall, the district spends over $1M on athletics.<BR/><BR/>Now don't get me wrong. I know the value of athletics, both my daughters are atheletes. Personally I am willing to pay more in taxes to fund athletics and all the other district programs, but many are not, hence the need year after year to cut programs. I just think when you are talking about cutting actual student classes (like Middle School French) I have a problem with cutting such programs before we cut non-academic areas.<BR/><BR/>Actually I think athletics is one area a majority of the public would be willing to fund with extra taxes. Of course the only way to find out for sure would be to put it to a referendum to exceed revenue caps to fund athletics and the board isn't going to go there, especially since you would never find a majority of the board that would stop funding athletics if the referendum failed. <BR/><BR/>If you look at athletics from an educational standpoint, I think it is really hard to argue that athletics improves student learning. The only data I've seen is usually grades but that can be a catch 22--- you need to maintain a 2.0 GPA to play sports, so everyone in sports will have at least a 2.0 GPA by virture of the fact they can't play if they don't.Teresa Thielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01097990067216672469noreply@blogger.com