Kamerschak – Enterprise Story Cory Kamerschak

The K-12 funding crisis in Arizona is taking its toll on more than just the classroom.

While it’s no secret the decrease of funds is hindering an educator’s ability to adequately teach their students, the lack of funds also causing drastic changes to school’s athletic programs.

There are two high schools within the Tempe Union High School District whose athletic programs have been negatively impacted. In addition to a $50 league fee that each student must pay per sport that they participate in, each school has a different program support fee that needs to be paid or fundraised by each student in order for the program to operate.

The Tempe Union High School District Head Athletic Director, Dr. Anna Battle, does not feel that the $50 league fee is unfair.

“The Board we have in Tempe Union, I don’t see them wanting to increase that fee because we have varied students…we have a very reasonable $50,” Battle said.

When asked what would happen if a student could not come up with that fee, Dr. Battle was confident that there would be no student athletes excluded from participating due to the league fee.

“Let’s say kids can’t pay for it, that doesn’t mean that they don’t get to participate,” she said. “We try to find alternative funding sources…so the money is coming from somewhere, but it’s just not coming from the family.”

However, it’s not necessarily the $50 fee that parents are concerned with when it comes to paying for their kids to play sports.

Julie Ford, whose son is a sophomore and plays on the Junior Varsity basketball team at Desert Vista High School, says that there are a lot more costs involved than just the $50 league fee.

“I understand the schools don’t have as much funding, but if my son wants to play on basketball we have to come up with like a $300 program fee,” Ford said. “The school tries to help offset that and boosters too, but as a single mom that is a lot of money for me.”

According to Desert Vista’s website, the boys basketball program has a program support fee that varies depending on if the athlete is playing on the Freshmen, JV or Varsity team.

The Freshmen and JV teams require each student to come up with $340 while the Varsity team requires $636, which covers travel expenses. These fees pay for away game meals, long sleeve pre game shirts, the awards banquet and team bonding activities.

Down the road at Mountain Pointe High School, program support fees are a little more bearable.

Head Coach Hosea Graham says that the fee for the Boys Basketball team is only $140.

“There’s about 12 kids that are on payment plans and parents can give us $10, $5, whatever they can. Again, we try and supplement it through fundraising,” Graham said.

Fundraising plays a big role for the basketball team at Mountain Pointe.

The team purchased two lower level tickets to the Phoenix Suns vs. Cleveland Cavaliers game in December which will be raffled off. So far the team has raised $4,000 that will help offset some of those program support fees for students who may not be able to afford it.

Capital funding is the money given to the district by the state of Arizona. Associate Superintendent of Business Services, Diane Muelemans, says that capital funding is used to purchase a lot of required items.

“This money is used to pay for athletic equipment, uniforms, helmets, bats, balls and the list goes on and on,” Meulemans said.

Out of the $50,000 in capital funding that each school within the district receives for athletics each year, the basketball team at Mountain Pointe only receives about $2,000 of that.

But, not all athletic programs require the same amount of funding.

The district gets money from the state, that in turn gives money to the respective schools within the district where it is up to the principals to decide how the money is spent.

“When I was the principal…I would prioritize and strategize how I can meet their needs, just as I would any academic discipline area,” Dr. Battle said in regards to her time before taking over as district athletic director.

Team sports such as football typically receive more funding because they require more maintenance and upkeep unlike individual sports such as golf and tennis.

If the downward trend continues on the same path, schools can expect to see even less capital funding in the future.

Bruce Kipper, the Principal of Mountain Pointe, says that the school loses more and more funding each year.

“Our district has lost about $25 million in capital funding over the last decade probably and it effects a lot of programs,” Kipper said. “As we receive less and less money each year from the state that puts quite a burden not only on athletics but on our clubs and activities.”

Coaches are not able to rely on money from the district and parent support, therefore they are also reaching out to the community for help.

Currently, Arizona Interscholastic Association policy doesn’t allow for schools to reach out to local businesses for a sponsorship.

However, Coach Graham feels that if times get desperate enough, the AIA will have to change their policy by empowering coaches to seek sponsorships.

“There are good people and companies and organizations out in the community that are willing to give, we just have to go and reach out to them,” Graham said. “But because of the rules, we aren’t allowed to go get those sponsorships.”

Jeremy White, a software engineer whose daughter graduated from Mountain Pointe in 2011, tries to give a small donation to the school each year.

“Being on the swim team really helped Heather when she was at Mountain Pointe, so I try and give the booster club some money each year, even if it’s just a small amount,” White said. “She received a partial scholarship to college, so giving back to the school even after she graduated is not a problem for me.”

Even with the support from the community, parents and small monetary amount from the district, that doesn’t mean that programs won’t be cut eventually.

Coach Hosea Graham feels that the idea of athletic programs being in jeopardy raises a much larger issue than just kids not playing sports anymore.

“You know for some of these kids, the only motivation to put forth a solid effort at school is because they know they have to maintain a certain GPA in order to keep playing sports,” Graham said.

Not funding athletic programs could generate a ripple effect that may harm the school overall.

“I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised if graduation rates sharply decreased if the day ever comes where athletic programs have to be eliminated.”