Disparities are apparent in sports funding

LUcy LOPSHIRE

LUcy LOPSHIRE

When people think of high school sports, the first one that comes to mind is football. It is a common viewpoint that the American sport has become the main recipient of money throughout high schools across the country. Therefore, people perceive an unbalanced distribution of money that leaves other sports overlooked and underfunded.

Especially here at Carlmont, students and coaches alike have voiced their concerns about allocating money. Different sports teams have various needs and desires depending on the resources available to them.

With most students not knowing how this system works, there is a widespread misconception that football receives most of the funding at Carlmont. When breaking down how money is spent, it can often reflect that idea. According to Patrick Smith, the athletic director at Carlmont, a portion of the district budget goes towards reconditioning football equipment each year.

“We get $60,000, usually about $45,000 goes to transportation. The rest of that money is used on equipment, but usually, that is eaten up by reconditioning of football equipment. All football helmets and shoulder pads have to be reconditioned every year; that’s a state law.” Smith said.

Smith works closely with coaches and the Booster Club to get teams the funding they need. The Booster Club is a parent-run organization that works to generate funds for Carlmont through events such as fundraisers. The club is heavily involved in athletics and provides most of the money used for the sports program.

The process for funding at Carlmont starts when coaches ask Smith for specific needs, which he then compares with the budget and communicates to the Booster Club. Within this process, he works alongside Joe Kupbens, who has been the Booster Board president for two years. Kupbens deals with fundraising, allocating funds, and more.

“The way it works is the coaches come to Pat and say, ‘this is what I need this year.’ Then we just discuss

what’s really needed; we rarely say no to anyone. It’s really what the coach is saying that we need any given year,” Kupbens said.

The club gets differing amounts of money per year, with a goal of $60,000 for fundraising. The amount of money given to each team changes annually, seen in the most recent budget with the golf team.

“We approve a budget to how much money we’ll give them each year to get things they need. So like, last year, we bought bags for the golf team. And then they’ll use those bags for 10 years or however long they last, and then we’ll find bags again. And then we buy uniforms on different rotations.”

Both Smith and Kupbens are aware of the rumors surrounding funding and deal with complaints annually.

“I will say, for our booster board, for the amount of money that we spend, if you look at our budget, per student, we try to keep it fairly even,” Kupbens said. “It will look a little lopsided here and there, but we’re very cognizant of the fact that everyone thinks that all the money goes to the football team. That is not the case.”

Smith had similar sentiments to Kupbens, saying, “I think the big thing is to ask people in the know and not get information based on rumor and innuendo. I think that’s where a lot of these things come from. I’m pretty easy to get a hold of and very easy to talk to, and I’m happy to discuss that with just about anybody.”

Stressing the idea of high school sports on a budget, Smith also remarked, “the second thing is to understand that everything in public high school is based on a budget. We can’t just create things out of thin air. It would be great if we could. And then the third thing is to understand how much things cost.”

On a larger scale, a lot of funding towards sports here at Carlmont comes from donations. Whether to the Booster Club or directly to a team, Carlmont relies on families to assist with funding. Kupbens put a significant emphasis on the importance of parents’ involvement with donations, as they play a significant role in getting student-athletes what they need. She encourages parents to get involved with the Booster Club and donate to the school to help support the athletic program.

“We can’t have a booster board that functions and pays for stuff without the parent’s involvement and without the parents giving money. If we could get every single parent to become a member, we could fund everything without having any other fundraisers,” Kupbens said.

GARy NAKAyAMA

GARy NAKAyAMA

LUcy LOPSHIRE