TOTAL FUNDING: $83,815 also because the district doesn’t have enough bus drivers, so they end up using charter buses at times, which costs anywhere from three to seven or eight times what the school buses would cost.” However, some teams do not need to use buses, and are not allocated any because they are smaller, and instead parents drive groups of students to away matches. Kryger said that the M-A Athletic Boosters, who raise over $100,000 each year for sports, pay for whatever athletic expenses the Athletic Department can’t cover due to funding limitations. Th e Boosters raise this money through parent donations and events like the Big Bear Run, which ended last year due to a drop in participation and fundraising. Scott Scherer, the co-president of the M-A Athletic Boosters, explained that “the cost to put on the Big Bear Run was fairly large, and it can be diffi cult to get sponsors. We actually lost money last year at the event.” Scherer said the Athletic Boosters “haven’t landed on anything that is viable as a fundraiser that is cost effi cient” to replace the Big Bear Run but they “defi nitely have an interest, even if we haven’t been able to settle on anything yet.” Despite the loss of the Big “$25,000, about 30% of the $83,000 is budgeted for transportation across all sports” Bear Run as a fundraiser, Scherer says donations have fi lled the gap quite easily. According to him, the Boosters “have been growing the amount of money we get through donations, by increasing our eff orts through coaches and parents. We’ve seen an increase in participation in the donations — we ask parents to donate $250 per student per sport. Some folks don’t pay all $250, some pay more than $250, but the overall 25 number of parents donating has increased.” Like the athletic department’s funds, the Boosters decide where money is allocated based on coach requests forms that are then voted on to decide how funds are dispersed. Scherer explained that “sometimes the district funds can’t stretch, so we pick up the costs.” Additionally, Scherer noted the Boosters “try to replace uniforms every three years” and usually “cover stipends for assistant coaches, and freshmen teams” that aren’t covered by the district funds. written by Katherine Welander and Triana Devaux designed by Amelia Wu photo by Bob Dahlberg
27 Publizr Home