School Sports Spending

Capitol Confidential ^ | 10/28/2010 | Tom Gantert

[MichCapCon]

In the Ann Arbor Public School system, compensation in the athletic department for coaches and staff throughout the district was $2.4 million in 2009. The district had to pay almost $500,000 in pension contributions in 2009 for its coaching and athletic department staff.

Sports are major budget line items in many public schools.

"It's not trivial," said Michael Van Beek, the education policy director for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy who did the analysis. "I don't think people really know how much schools spend on athletics."

[Genoa]

In my state, high schools are what we have so we can have high school football.

[absolootezer0]

how much do the sports bring in from spectators?

a good team that fills the stands every friday should be able to pay for itself.

[TexasRepublic]

Our academic standards have fallen lower than those in the third world! Why? Over-emphasis on sports, for one thing. Very few students progress from high school sports to professional teams; for the rest, it is a terrible priority and waste of students’ time and taxpayers’ money. I say limit sports to P.E. classes and run their fat little asses around the track to shape up!

[ansel12]

In my Texas high school, I think we had about a dozen football coaches, it was like playing at a small college.

[I Shall Endure]

I couldn’t agree more.

One of my former housemates is a H.S. Basketball ref. The horror stories he tells about students and parents who take this stuff way, way too seriously ... we live in a very white, very affluent town ... these kids are NOT going to play in the NBA.

[maine yankee]

Ann Arbor, which has an enrollment of about 16,500 students, spent $148 per pupil on athletic coaches and administrators, which includes salaries, health benefits and other non-payroll professional and technical services such as field maintenance

I wonder what percentage of the entire student body actually participates in the sports programs run by these coaches and admins.

[Fundamentally Fair]

Here is San Diego county, the schools are broke (if you believe the stories in the press and constant attempts for school bonds), but I have seen 3* revamped football “stadiums” with new artificial grass surface and fancy paint jobs. This matches the majority of other schools that have 2-5 year old stadiums and surfaces.

* Oceanside, El Camino, Escondido High Schools.

[Pollster1]

In defense of HS athletic costs, assuming this is an extra duty after school, paid $2k-$4k a year, I see it as a net plus, just as having some sort of PE is a net plus. I’m not a former high school athlete, and none of my kids have had any talent for the big name sports, but I’m glad that we still have a little bit of physical fitness as part of the educational system. If this means we have to pay retirement benefits to retired gym teachers, I’m okay with that.

[NEMDF]

Around here there are no full-time coaches in the schools. The coaches are all teachers with full teaching schedules (you know, 3 classes a day or whatever). The high schools might have an activities director, but that person would oversee all extracurricular activities, not just athletics.

[codercpc]

In my district, although the coaches receive minimal stipend, every major monetary layout (new field, uniforms, equipment, etc.) is all financed through the booster club, and fund raising.

Ticket sales go into the general "sports" funds, with, as expected, football making up the majority of the funds. Our kids also pay "activity" fees, if they are in extra curricular.

I can't imagine that our district is much different than others.