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.
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!
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.
* Oceanside, El Camino, Escondido High Schools.
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.
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.