Athletic programs will feel the squeeze when approximately $7 million is sliced from the Shoreline School District’s 2003-04 budget.
Increased athlete participation fees, coaching reductions and C-team cuts are part of the proposed plan that will go before the school board at its Aug. 18 meeting.
No varsity or junior varsity teams will be affected, but all C-teams will be eliminated. Freshman volleyball, basketball and football will continue to be offered at both Shoreline high schools.
“It’s unfortunate that every student who wants to participate can’t,” district athletic director Paul Lesh said. “Coaches will have to decide how to keep their numbers down.”
Declining enrollment coupled with a sagging economy triggered the cuts. Lesh was initially told to slash $100,000 from the athletic budget, but came up with an alternate solution.
“I would have had to cut 20 percent of our sports programs,” Lesh said. “That would have decimated our sports programs. I couldn’t do it.”
Instead, Lesh trimmed about 10 percent off the coaching budget and boosted participation fees as well as community-use and stadium-use fees.
The cuts will save the district about $50,000 and the fee increases are expected to generate another $50,000.
If the budget is adopted, high school athletes will see their yearly participation fees increase from $30 to $50. Fees for middle school athletes will rise from $10 to $30.
Several “overload” coaching positions will be cut. Overload coaches are hired when rosters reach a specified level.
At the middle school level, football and cross country overload coaches will be eliminated and limited to one position in track. Intramural coaches will also be eliminated.
At the high school level, overload coaches will be eliminated in cross country and wrestling and limited to one position in swimming and gymnastics. Boys and girls golf will have one coach instead of separate coaches.
“Every sport is still available, just not at the level of participation we’ve had in the past,” said Lesh, who has been crunching numbers since April.
Lynn Wright, a parent of a Shorewood student-athlete, feels the district waited until the last minute to share the proposed changes with the public and is working to raise awareness about the cutbacks.
“I hadn’t heard anything about these cuts coming down the pipeline,” Wright said.
Last month, public outcry prompted district officials to restore 16 school nurse and five-and-a-half family advocate positions that were slated to be cut in the preliminary budget.
It will cost the district $230,000 to salvage those cuts.
“If they can find the money to save those positions, they can come up with $50,000 for athletics,” Wright said. “Five or 10 years from now that amounts to nothing in the budget compared to the impact it could have on kids.”
Wright is encouraging supporters to write school board president Patti Giboney and Superintendent Jim Welsh and to attend the Aug. 4 school board meeting.
“All you hear from the schools is how important it is for kids to get involved with after-school activities. It’s a big part of the high school experience,” Wright said. “These cuts will make those types of opportunities much lower.”
Four years ago, the community rallied to create C-teams at Shorecrest and Shorewood. The district’s first C-teams appeared in the spring of 2000.
“We told them we couldn’t afford it then and parent groups from both schools went out and raised the money themselves,” Lesh said.
C-teams aren’t offered in every sport, but last year Shorecrest and Shorewood both fielded three C-teams.
Lesh was optimistic about the chances of C-teams returning in the future.
“I would hope that as budgets become more affluent and more monies become available, some of the programs will be reinstated,” he said. “There’s always a chance things can regenerate and return to levels they once were. We’ll have to wait and see.”
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