Page 6 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, AugusT 19 2022 School Sports and other extracurricular activities remain best bargain in the entire municipal budget As a new school year nears, the value of these programs which complement academics is clear C all it fi scal effi ciency, value-based fi nances or the good, old-fashioned action cliché: “most bang for the buck.” But a truer statement is not often said than this, borrowed from the National Federation of State High School Associations’ (NFHS) “The Case of High School Activities”: High school activity programs – vital programs such as Sports, Music, Speech, Theater and Debate – are one of today’s best bargains. At a cost of only one to three percent (or even less than one percent in many cases) of an overall school’s budget, funding of high school activity programs produces some of the higher value per dollar of all school/municipal expenditures. It is in these sports and other extracurricular programs where young people learn lifelong lessons that complement the academic lessons taught in the classroom. From a cost standpoint, sports and other activity programs are an exceptional bargain when matched against the overall school district’s education budget. Examinations of various school districts’ budget information across the country reveal that activity programs make up very small percentages of school budgets. In the Advocate readership area’s public school districts of Everett, Malden, Revere and Saugus, this is the case, as well, as all four Our 50th Anniversary Dan 1972 R.Y.O. TOBACCO ---------TUBES CIGAR SMOKERS DELIGHT! 15 Handmade Cigars - Long Leaf - individually wrapped plus a $19. Surprise $43.95 Chris 2022 We Sell Cigars & Accessories Buy Cigars by the Box & SAVE! Competitive prices on all Brands, Great Selection Take an Additional 10% OFF All Boxes and Humidors during the Month of August! * Travel Humidors * Desk Top Humidors * Many Types of Lighters * Ash Trays * Juuls * Vapes * Glass Pipes * Rewards Program * CBD Infused Products * GIFTS UNDER $30 - GIFT CERTIFICATES A.B.C. CIGAR 170 REVERE ST., REVERE (781) 289-4959 STORE HOURS: Monday - Saturday: 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM Sunday & Holidays: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM Racing down the field for Malden High Golden Tornado soccer last season. (Courtesy Photo/ Malden HS girls’ soccer) of the districts, for the upcoming 2022-23 school year show between one and two percent of their complete school budgets committed to athletics and other extracurricular activities. That is between approximately $520,000 and $785,000 per school. Check out some of the major cities in the nation. Pre-COVID, in the 2019-20 school year, the city of Chicago’s Public School Board of Education’s budget (the second largest U.S. school district) was $6.56 billion; the activity programs’ portion was $17.5 million, just two-tenths of one percent. In the Los Angeles, Calif., Unifi ed School District (the third largest school district in the national), activity programs received $7.3 million of the overall $7.7 billion budget for 2019-20, only one-tenth of one percent! In the Miami– Dade, Fla., School District (the fourth largest school district in the United States), its Board of Education had a 2019-20 overall budget of $5.45 billion, while setting aside $17.7 million for sports and all other activity programs, just over threetenths of one percent. In all of these examples, the budget for school activity programs is less than one percent of the overall district’s budget. Considering the benefits, which are outlined below, at such small proportions of overall school district budgets, school activity programs are one of the most eff ective investments being made in secondary school education programs today. We will go right to the Mission Statement of the NFHS to reiterate the value and importance of participation in athletic and other extracurricular activities by student-athletes, because we know that they are all endorsed by the districts in our readership area. The NFHS states: –We Believe– Student participation in education-based high school athletics and activities: • Is a privilege. • Enriches the educational experience. • Encourages academic SCHOOL SPORTS | SEE PAGE 7 Former Everett High All-Scholastic Jason Maitre parlayed some outstanding athletic ability he honed as a Crimson Tide football All-Scholastic into a Football Scholarship at Boston College. (Courtesy Photo/Everett Football)
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