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Schools

School District Leans on Parents to Support Struggling Sports Programs

But some families are reluctant.

Like an expensive watch, high school sports never seem to stop.

Whether it’s football beneath Friday’s bright lights or basketball on the hardwood, coaches and administrators ensure that athletes always have games to play.

But that resilience has also helped hide the real picture—that economic tough times have taken a toll on high school sports in Elk Grove. Recently, the Elk Grove Unified School District has started asking parents to chip in to help sports programs survive—with mixed results.

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The district has cut $1.16 million from its sports budget over the last two years, eliminating freshmen sports last year and this year trimming coaches’ stipends and transportation for away games.

Starting last year, officials asked parents to donate $150 per participant into a “voluntary athletic contribution” fund. Half of each donation goes to fund sports programs at the student's home school, while the other half is redistributed throughout the district, with priority going to fees for game referees.

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But parents have been slow to reach for their pocketbook.  Of the $300,000 goal the district set for this year, the fund has only raised $46,476 so far, with contributions from just 23 percent of athletes who played fall sports. Last year's effort raised $74,947.

Recession limits donations

The ongoing economic slump is one obvious reason parents are reluctant to donate, said district athletic director Jim Smrekar.  Elk Grove’s unemployment rate hovers around 10 percent and many of the city’s neighborhoods are plagued by foreclosures.

But Smrekar and other coaches said parents may also fail to understand the urgency behind the district's requests. An emergency would only become obvious if individual sports got the axe, they say—something district officials have doggedly sought to avoid.

Many of Elk Grove’s high school teams have remained competitive and successful despite budget cuts. One of the district’s largest high school football programs, Pleasant Grove, played in the Sac-Joaquin Section finals last week; Elk Grove High School made it to the semifinals. 

Still, coaches said they are feeling the pinch in a number of subtle ways.

Scott Ellison, who coaches girls volleyball at Monterey Trail High School, said that his team wasn’t able to buy new equipment this year and had fewer assistant coaches. Those impacts probably weren’t visible to fans or to parents, said Ellison, but they still affected his team.

“That extra coach, especially if they’re knowledgeable, automatically gives you this small group work setting,” he said.  “When you’re always coaching the larger group, you can rarely stop and work with a smaller group or one person.”

Other changes have been more evident, such as when the district reduced transportation funding.  Since 2009, the budget has been slashed by 70 percent, sharply limiting the number of buses for away games and tournaments and turning some coaches into de facto cab drivers for the teams.

Cody Demps, a football and basketball standout at Pleasant Grove High School, said he noticed the change during basketball season last year.

“We’ve had to get our own rides to the games more often and we’ve stopped using the bus system, said Demps.  “Our coach has asked a bunch of parents to volunteer to drive or rent a van.”

Backlash from parents

Asking parents to help in multiple ways simultaneously—from donating to driving to games—can tap out their good will, admits Rick Arcuri, athletic director at Monterey Trail High School. 

“When these parents are needing to do transportation and needing to do extra fundraising, they’ve still got to do their own job,” said Arcuri.

The voluntary athletic contribution has also met resistance from parents who lack confidence that the donations will benefit their children.

It’s not uncommon for school districts to solicit voluntary financial contributions from parents.  In the Sacramento area, Roseville Joint Union High School District also set a $300,000 goal for its 2011-2012 parent contribution. 

But for some parents, the process seems murky.

“I guess I question how the district redistributes the money and how it gets back to our school,” said Kris Wimberly, a single mom whose daughter Alex Holt plays on the Monterey Trail volleyball team. Wimberly said she hasn't contributed to the program, and neither have a lot of parents she knows.

Arcuri said fears over management of the fund, which was created based on recommendations from a parent study group, are shortsighted.

“This is our community; this is our school district.  We’re all brothers and sisters in that regard,” he said.  “It’s all benefiting all of the student athletes.”

With donations trickling in, coaches say they've lowered their expectations for the program, but that every little bit helps.

“It’s like, ask for the world and get what you can through that process,” said Valley High School basketball coach Mat Bradley.  “The worst thing [parents] can do is say no to some of the things, but they’re not going to say no to everything.”

Meanwhile, some say they'll continue trying to insulate student athletes from the stress of their teams' financial woes.

“How much longer can I shelter them?  My plan is forever,” said Ellison.  “I’ll just have to be creative so they always believe they’re getting a top-notch program.”

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