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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.
Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > March > 31 > Entry
Martin Gottlieb: New generation to have less than parents in school sports?
American pollsters like to ask people if they think their children will have a better life than theirs. The question supposedly gets at something fundamental. Americans are typically optimistic about the country. Any time they are not so optimistic, that’s presented as a sea change, and as an indication that they are about to demand a change in government.
And yet, more and more these days, concrete examples arise of material things getting worse from one generation to another. One such realm is school sports.
People of a certain generation took school sports for granted. You “went out” for a sport without thinking twice about the expense. There was no expense, no downside to having fun, forming a circle of friends, getting exercise and staying out of trouble.
Maybe you went to a school that didn’t have a sport you wanted. But if it was there, it was free.
That day is gone in, by some estimates, about 40 percent of Ohio high schools. It has been gone in some places through much of this decade, but the number of schools is increasing. So are the fees.
State circumstances vary widely. About half the high schools in the country charge fees for extracurricular activities. In New Jersey, only about 15 percent of schools charge.
Some states ban such fees. But that sometimes ends up meaning that, when budget troubles hit, a school system considers ending sports programs entirely.
In Ohio, when fees are instituted or raised — or when programs are shut down — the immediate reason always seems to be the defeat of tax levies.
In Springboro, where trying to pass a levy is not a fun sport, the school board has announced that its $200 per-athlete fee will go to $475 for high school sports if the district’s May 5 levy fails. A family could end up spending a total of $1,900.
The five-year levy is for 4.11 mills, or about $126 per $100,000 of assessed value of a home.
The Sugarcreek school district also has a levy on the May 5 ballot, a renewal for 9 mills. If it fails, sports and music programs are among those in jeopardy, say school officials. Families are already slated to pay $100-a-sport next year.
At a school in Licking County, all middle- and high-school sports have been canceled for this spring. In Reynoldsburg, outside Columbus, they’re talking about $800 per sport.
Typically, sports only account for about 2 percent of a school’s budget, give or take a percent. So administrators can’t perform any miracles for the academic side by cutting sports or charging for them.
But schools are under so much pressure to do more academically that ultimately attention does turn to sports budgets.
The situation isn’t likely to improve. Gov. Ted Strickland has a plan for somewhat redistributing the burden of funding schools. But he wants to do much on the academic side. With money tight, it would be foolish to expect a new day for sports.
In many places, boosters have stepped in to help defray expenses. Outside help would appear to be the future, if sports are to be maintained at their old level and students are not to be excluded because of family income.
All over the Dayton area — including in Springboro — Premier Health Partners (a hospital company) has bought naming rights to high school stadiums by putting up money for capital improvements and more.
Surely there are enough businesses that would see some public relations value to chipping in on sports, in return for tasteful promotions of their names. It’s hardly a new idea: promoting a company through youth sports.
Pressure ought to be put on professional sports leagues to cough up something. They have benefited from generations of help from schools at all levels.
If school sports had never been free to children, the idea of making them free now would be denounced as a radical socialist scheme. (The same is true about public libraries. Can you imagine somebody proposing that the government lend books to people for free? Horrors!)
But the question now is whether we want our children and grandchildren to have less than we had.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Education, Martin Gottlieb, Sports and Recreation
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By Mary
April 1, 2009 8:21 AM | Link to this
This is a long overdue discussion. Some things that stood out for me as possibly being glossed over includes the 2% estimate spent on sports as if that is chump change in school budgets. It is not. That amounts to hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in most school districts. Meanwhile, a figure given in the gifted community is less than 2 cents of every one hundred education dollars, or .02 percent (100 times less that we spend on school sports) is spent on gifted ed in our country. In Governor Strickland’s proposed budget, things would have got worse, not better, for gifted ed. Many gifted coordinators and teachers were getting pink slips. The pot of money districts spend on supplemental coaching salaries, and many other competitive sports expenses, is money taken away from the classroom and the resources necessary to hire more teachers, provide more academic offerings, and keep class sizes small. Also, the commentary implies all students benefit equally from sports programs. That is just not the case. Most school district sports teams are highly selective, travel, get trainers, etc. This is money spent that does not benefit all students equally and has increased greatly over the years. Also, in many districts when I was growing up, the more economically privileged students were the ones who had the time and resources to participate in after school programs. That appears to still be true today. So, I do not think a lot of parents today participated in sports during their day, either. I was one of ten children in a rural district and none of us had the time, money or transportation to participate in after school programs. My father managed to fork out some money to enhance our exposure to art, music, classical arts, and literature with private teachers because the school neglected to provide those academic opportunities I think in many suburban districts the after school programs still benefit mainly economically advantaged families at the price of increased property taxes on less advantaged families and an inferior academic education compared to other countries.
By Rob
April 1, 2009 10:29 AM | Link to this
And yet…My daughters have opportunaties that my Bride never saw. Soccer? Never heard of it back then. Softball? Volleyball? Track? Golf? Bowling? Yes, they existed (maybe)but were they supported like they are now? Of course not. Things are so much better today for girls where athletics are concerned. I have personally seen the benefits that competative sports have had on my daughters and am more than willing to “Pay the Fee” to see that confidence that comes with effort and a little competence and membership on a team.
By joe_mamma
April 1, 2009 11:10 AM | Link to this
Where do you get the idea that school sports were free in the past? Somebody has always paid for it, whether through taxes, volunteering or through donations. It was never free.
By Sara
April 1, 2009 12:29 PM | Link to this
Sports are extracurricular activities and should not be paid for by the taxpayers, especially today when so many venues for participating in sports exist so that students can play a sport year around in clubs. Parents should pay for their child to play sports, not the taxpayer. At least after their child graduates or decides to not play any longer, the fee stops, unlike the endless levies that some school districts push on their taxpayers.
By Bob
April 1, 2009 12:37 PM | Link to this
Many schools like Springboro use the pay to play sports issue as a levy manipulation. Why else would they require a cross country team member to pay $475 to participate next fall, the same amount that a varsity football team member will pay. It isn’t about equality, because we all know it costs much more for to support a football team versus a cross county team. It’s about politics. The Springboro board of education considered charging different rates for each team based on what it really costs the district, but this was voted down. Obviously many parents would have supported this option and the district was afraid they would not get the votes they need to pass this levy for their fourth try in a year. As a parent of two athletes I would prefer to pay for my own child and I believe pay to play is what all districts need to more to instead of taxpayers coughing up more dough.
By Mom
April 1, 2009 2:01 PM | Link to this
You might be surprised at the costs of some sports—some that you THINK might cost very little might actually cost MORE than one you think costs a lot. Parents who THINK their child participates in a low cost sport might be surprised to know the TRUE cost. The pay to play is an OPPORTUNITY fee—we all pay the same fee for the opportunity to play. That is the reason for the same costs across the board. A better explanation of the “opportunity fee’ can be found at www.borolevyfacts.org I am not promoting the levy here—just reminding you there is more to this.
By BoroWise
April 1, 2009 3:04 PM | Link to this
Our Springboro school district needs to initiate the “100% pay to play” plan for sports and extra curricular activities. In Springboro Schools, there are so many choices, everything from golf to horseback riding, and school teachers who “volunteer” to organize and implement these many student activities after school are paid extra money which is charged to the local taxpayer. While it is to the students’advantage to have a wide variety of interests, it is also the responsibility of the student and their family to choose participation in extra curricular activities that the student’s family can fully financially support. To get the most use out of our taxpayers’ education dollars, and especially during this time of high unemployment with many families in economic crisis, it’s time that parents moved from the political concept of forcing frequent tax increases on their neighbors to pay for sports and band fees, to a consumer mindset and ask themselves the question: What special interests does my student have and how much is it going to cost and can we, as parents, afford this? It’s the same consumer mindset we parents have when we shop for food which is in the best interest of our family. A wide variety of steaks and burgers are available, but no matter how much more interest we have in a steak dinner, we must settle for burgers if it is all we can afford. We can’t expect that our neighbor who is shopping in the same food store should pick up the cost. One would ask, why do parents in our school district think that their neighbors, some who do not have children enrolled in sports and band, should vote ourselves a tax increase so that parents whose children do benefit from these activities do not have to pay fees for their own child?
By Tiffany
April 1, 2009 4:14 PM | Link to this
Your article alludes that the current generation of parents are doing a “disservice” to our children by voting down school levies and “jeopardizing” their children’s ability to play in sports, which would be just awful. As someone who grew up in the 70s, sports have changed drastically. We have gone from schools providing very “limited funding” on core sports such as football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, track, cross country, golf, tennis, and soccer for boys, and volleyball, field hockey, tennis, and golf for girls. Sports in the 70s and 80s meant you didn’t have the fanciest uniforms or equipment, one of the teachers was your volunteer coach with out pay, and you got the privilege of using the school gym or fields. We had to do fundraisers to get anything extra, such as going to competitions or getting a t-shirt. School districts, such as Springboro, offer every sport under the sun and have multiple “paid” coaching positions for each, fancy uniforms, new locker facilities, and engage in expensive travel to competitions. It has become obsessive and obscene and parents have had enough. Maybe the parents who’s kids are in sports continue to want the funding of the taxpayers for all this “extra-curricular” fun stuff, but ask that of the empty nesters and the senior citizens. Schools need to get back to the “basics,” not only in reading, science and math, but in providing the basics for core sports to participate in. Anything extra…let the parents of those “student athletes” cough it up.
By Laura
April 1, 2009 5:22 PM | Link to this
Once again, some people try to turn the subject topic to fit their agenda. This “conversation” is supposed to be about the change of attitude of people regarding the availability of sports to all public school children. When I was growing up, money was very tight in my family. My parents, however, always voted for school levys and did whatever they could to support anything that benefitted children- even if we, ourselves, were not directly involved. Long after my brothers and I were out of school, my parents continued to support the school levies because as my mother said, someone else supported her education as well as that of her children. What we have developing now, is an attitude of “me and mine first and the heck with anyone one else.” What a sad attitude. As to the library comment, wouldn’t it be interesting (and sad) to see how quickly the libraries would fail if people were forced to pay on a per-use basis? Anything that is connected to children or education has a hard time being funded but the majority of people have no problem paying astronomical prices to support movie stars, musicians, and sports stars.
By Taxpayer
April 1, 2009 11:17 PM | Link to this
There is a really good report on the state and trends of pay to play in ohio that was written back in 2005 — it is defeinitely worth a look: www.ohsaa.org/members/paytoplay2005.pdf Additionally, there are a number of other links to pay to play, school finances, and other springboro levy related issues at: www.topix.com/forum/city/springboro-oh/TOTTI45JALE1GCC71 and www.topix.com/forum/city/springboro-oh/THI4LQ2U7E80CAEGH
By BoroWise
April 2, 2009 11:13 AM | Link to this
In Springboro, community members are asking our pro-levy parents, educators, and politicians: just how far are you willing to go in your efforts to force increased property taxes to support your school sports and band fees? Here’s the latest definition of Crazy in Springboro. Our SHS principal, Ron Malone, just sent his Thursday update to parents. I am outraged that our educators and the political action committee, Neighbors for Springboro Schools, Tammy Grigsby President, is seeking to manipulate dollars from parents by this effort to force students to conform to our school’s pro levy agenda by paying a dollar to wear a hat in class! This obviously is meant to intimidate and embarrass students who do not want to wear hats in class so that they will donate a dollar to a political cause! There is NO place for this type of pro levy greed in our students’ classrooms! And I certainly question the judgment of parents,educators and school politicians who would consider such a school yard bully approach to raise funds for a political campaign to increase taxes on every property owner in the Springboro school district! From Ron Malone’s Thursday update: “THE SHS LEVY COMMITTEE IS SPONSORING A “HAT DAY” FRIDAY….STUDENTS MAY WEAR A HAT ALL DAY IF THEY PAY $1…..ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE NEIGHBORS FOR SPRINGBORO SCHOOLS LEVY COMMITTEE….
By BoroWise
April 5, 2009 2:52 PM | Link to this
Here’s a list of sports/after school clubs being provided to our Springboro students at taxpayers’ expense. It’s time to stop the craziness in Springboro and Vote No on May 5 to increased spending and school financial irresponsibility. Springboro, OH 2525 Jan 24, 2009 The following is a list of activities and sports available for just high school students at Springboro. The list is available p. 25 of the high school course listing catalog found on the high school website. SPRINGBORO HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES CLUBS/ACTIVITIES – Academic Team Club Art Club Band Business Professionals of America Chess Club Choir Colorguard/Winterguard Destination Imagination Environmental Club Equestrian Club GRIP International Language Club Junior ROTC Junior Statesmen of America Key Club Kitty Hawk Air Society Leo Club Mock Trial Team Muse Machine National Honor Society (NHS) Office Worker Orienteering PKOM Play/Musical Pride Committee Remote Control Model Aircraft Club ROTC Color Guard Ski Club Statistician Student Athletic Trainer Student Council Students Against Destructive Decisions Teacher Aide Teen Mentoring Thespian Society VICA/Skills USA Video Game Club Volunteer Swim Coach Winter Percussion Yearbook Staff – S-Capades ATHLETICS – Fall: Football Volleyball Boys/Girls Soccer Boys/Girls Cross Country Girls Tennis Boys/Girls Golf Cheerleading Winter: Boys/Girls Basketball Wrestling Boys/Girls Swimming Cheerleading Hockey Boys/Girls Bowling Dance Team (Club) Spring: Boys/Girls Track Baseball Softball Boys Tennis Boys Volleyball (Club) Boys/G Lacrosse (Club) MUSIC – Band Winterguard Winter Percussion Jazz Band Pep Band Fall Guard
By Ice Bandit
April 10, 2009 9:44 AM | Link to this
Hey Laura. What, you ask, would happen if people were charged for library visits? Can’t say for sure, but I’d be willing to try it at the main branch in downtown Dayton. That biblioteca has become a defacto daytime homeless shelter. The urban outdoorsman who crowd the downtown branch use the facility for everything from impromptu showers to aggressive panhandling to expressing their bizarre worldviews to whoever will listen. The library’s attempts to curtail the aforementioned conduct has been met with lawsuits where the library has shelled out large settlements to the homeless. Pay for use? Maybe it would return the downtown branch to the students and everyday folks who are downright afraid to use that facility now…..
By BoroWise
April 15, 2009 12:37 PM | Link to this
Comparing taxpayers’ support of public library services to taxpayers’ support of free sports and extra curricular activities at Springboro Schools is another example of just how far out of touch the local newspapers (who “opine” on pro schoollevy issues) are with the reality of our Springboro community and constant Springboro School levies. Public libraries are open to the public, at taxpayers’ expense, whether you are taxpayers or homeless, and to all ages, whether you are preschoolers or senior citizens. Springboro School Sports programs are open only to those select students who qualify and only to those students whose parents can afford to purchase a home in this school district. Therefore, only those who receive the select instruction of the sports coach, and the benefits of participation, should be charged for the instruction of the sports coach, and only those community members who benefit from attending the sports programs should be charged by an admission charge at each event, and not charged by an increase in property taxes on every homeowner in our Springboro school district. Just because homeowners are “wealthy” enough to purchase a home in Springboro does not give our Springboro neighbors for increased taxes the right to penalize us for moving to Springboro, by forcing us by passing a school levy, to pick up the same percentage of taxes on our homes so that parents of students will not have to financially support their own students’ sports (and band) fees. And let’s not forget, in addition to paying school taxes, community members also pay taxes for police and fire protection and other community services that every community member benefits from, including our Springboro students, whether they are athletes, band members, or not. It’s not too much to ask of Springboro parents to pick up the tab for their own students’ extra curricular activities during the time their students participate. And, by doing so, then our taxpayers’ money that everyone pays to support our schools (approximately $42 million budget in Springboro) can be used to provide a bus ride to class for ALL students, regardless of age, and whether or not they qualify as a Panther athlete or Springboro School Band member. And that, in my ‘Boro opinion, is an educated difference between public libraries that are provided at taxpayers expense, and free sports and band programs at Springboro Schools that are supported at taxpayers expense.
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