Clear-cutting freshman sports not clear-cut solution

“Don’t cut you and don’t cut me, cut that fellow behind the tree.” – President Ronald Reagan in an interview with Walter Cronkite, 1981.

The late president made his comment when questioned about opposition to his proposal for federal government budget cuts a quarter century ago.

It seems apropos in light of Monday’s hearing with citizens about the current financial plight of Spokane Public Schools.

Pleas at the hearing as quoted in The Spokesman-Review story by Sara Leaming were predictable. Save our programs and cut that fellow behind the tree.

One fellow in this case is a proposal to eliminate ninth-grade sports. Those of us who believe in the bang that school activities bring for the buck believe that would be a mistake.

It seems incongruous to me that a business that has increased revenue each year and added personnel is struggling to find the $300,000 ($60,000 per high school) for activities.

Spokane Public Schools have a budget well more than a quarter of a billion dollars and Superintendent Brian Benzel said he anticipates nearly a $10 million increase next year.

“The problem is,” said Benzel, “that it has $13.7 million in costs associated with it. That has been happening for years.”

Spokane Public Schools have seen a 12 percent monetary increase between the 2004-05 and 2006-07 budgetary years. During that time, it has added a combined 145 certified and classified employees even as district enrollment has declined by more than 1,050 students.

Benzel said much of that has been because of a special education program that has attracted 800 students more than the state funding formula allows. That accounts for $8.6 million of a total $21 million revenue shortfall over time that he blames on unfunded federal and state mandates.

State officials I talked to paint a somewhat different picture, saying that funding is based on a formula. Districts provide necessary figures and are cut a check to spend. Some live within the budget, others don’t. Programs become targets when funds run out.

“Cuts in athletics are painful to talk about,” said Benzel, who was an athlete and musician in high school. “I think they provide one of the rare opportunities young people have to experience the joy and agony of team, to be responsible, actively engaged in something and are wholesome and productive.”

That’s why it is my and many others’ belief that giving athletics the ax is wrong. For all the ills creeping into sports, if the district does cut them further along with other activities it is liable to do irreparable harm to programs, accelerate urban flight and exacerbate the monetary problem.

Someone long ago, obviously, discovered their value or they wouldn’t be part of the education curriculum. One longtime area administrator told me he considered them “absolutely” essential.

I, among others, have long held that sports is the backbone of a school, a rallying point for students whether participants or spectators and a great marketing tool.

As Benzel said, they are what rounds out a scholar by providing life lessons, decision-making and a sense of belonging and well-being. For some, activities are a reason to stay in school and can be their salvation.

There is evidence that grade points go up during a person’s sports season and activities can be a way to keep them occupied and out of temptation’s way.

Schools aren’t mandated or funded by the state to provide activities; the money comes from local sources. I’ve long been a believer they should be a mandate, if only to perhaps prevent athletics from being scapegoats during, this, an annual political financial football game.

From conversations I’ve had, the conclusion drawn is that a little common-sense budgeting and willingness for educators to compromise on their wants would have gone a long way toward sparing freshman athletes the worry of being those fellows behind the tree.