Budget Problems Threaten Athletic Programs

The gloomy news came from Sacramento in early January: The state’s budget deficit was$7 billion and drastic cuts in public education were expected. It was a “crisis” situation, Gov. Pete Wilson said.

The early forecast was way off.

By March, the projected deficit was approaching $13 billion, an “emergency” situation, according to Wilson.

Since then, school districts statewide have been scrambling to find ways to save money. In Orange County, this has included long, hard looks at interscholastic sports.

It’s not the first time, and most likely won’t be the last, it has been proposed that high school athletic programs be trimmed.

Some athletic departments have banded together, offering counterproposals in an attempt to save money without cutting sports.

But administrators are nevertheless painting a bleak portrait for the 1991-92 school year.

The Huntington Beach Union High School District is asking its six high schools to discontinue sophomore football, freshman/sophomore baseball and co-ed badminton as part of an attempt to trim $377,750 from extracurricular activities. Overall, the district must reduce its budget by $2.6 million.

The Santa Ana Unified School District must cut $400,000 from its athletic budget in grades seven-12, and has proposed dropping field hockey, golf and gymnastics at the districts’ four high schools and reducing all junior high athletics to intramural status.

The Orange Unified School District, which cut $40,000 for the 1990-91 school year, faces the loss of 22 teaching positions. Tom Meiss said he resigned as Orange football coach last winter because he expected to be among those teachers laid off.

The Irvine Unified School District has slashed its transportation budget, and parents have been asked to drive athletes to events when buses are unavailable.

In the Placentia Unified School District, which must trim $1 million from its total budget, teachers who coach volleyball and boys’ basketball at Esperanza have been given Reduction In Force (RIF) notices, and the school’s athletic director has been told he will be reassigned.

Even the Garden Grove Unified School District--among the most fiscally prudent, according to one district athletic director--has not escaped. Schools have been told to expect cuts in sports teams and transportation.

It’s all very troubling to those involved in high school athletics, but the proposed elimination of entire sports programs and the reduction of lower priority teams is most worrisome.

“In a country that has diet dog food, how can we cut the quality athletic programs we offer to our students?” said Larry Arason, boys’ athletic director at Santa Ana Valley.

The Santa Ana district’s proposals are among the harshest. In order to trim $400,000, the district has proposed:

Cutting high school field hockey, golf and gymnastics at every level.

Cutting football coaching staffs from 11 to nine.

Downgrading junior high sports to an intramural activity.

Transportation cutbacks that would mandate all high school tournament or invitational participation be restricted to within school district boundaries.

A task force, composed of athletic directors and principals from each district high school and junior high, already has met with the district’s assistant superintendent and is scheduled to meet again Thursday.

“I’d hate to see any lower-level programs cut,” Arason said. “These cutbacks are being forced upon us. Good, young qualified teachers are getting RIF notices. And it’s not just coaches. We may lose our band director.”

Proposed cutbacks in Huntington Beach are just as grim. And that’s why Larry Doyle, boys’ athletic director at Marina, went before the school board Tuesday night with a number of alternate proposals offered by district athletic directors.

If the latest proposals are adopted, the amount of cuts in athletics in Huntington Beach will climb to $1.6 million, according to Doyle.

“Our point is if, in fact, we have to make cuts, we’d like to have the right to make the decision where to make the cuts,” he said.

“There are other ways to do it,” said Lyman Clower, Edison boys’ athletic director, who has worked with Doyle on the counterproposals. “We can re-route the money. (But) by eliminating sports, they’re cutting our throats.”

In addition to being wildly successful, Edison’s sophomore football team has laid the foundation for the school’s varsity.

“We’ve only had four or five kids who have played on the varsity as sophomores,” Clower said. “The JV program would become the sophomore program. Those juniors who aren’t quite ready (for varsity play) would have nowhere to play. There’s no telling how many kids will be affected.”

Curiously, the budget cuts come at a time when many high school athletic programs are financially self-sufficient. Bingo games, golf tournaments and other fund-raising activities have helped ease earlier crises.

Edison’s weekly bingo game earns the school about $25,000 a year, Clower said in October. In a normal year, he said, athletic teams’ budgets are met without fail.

Moreover, corporate sponsorship has helped stabilize the Southern Section financially. In the past two years, the section earned more than $3 million from its football and basketball playoffs, half of which will be returned to member schools, according to Stan Thomas, section commissioner.

So why is money so tight?

For one thing, money that schools raise is theirs to spend on uniforms, facility improvements and equipment. But the section does not allow coaching salaries to be paid from fund-raising, because it could create unfair advantages and bidding wars over successful coaches.

When a school district wants to cut its budget, it often looks at coaching positions, and when coaches are cut, it often means teams are cut, too. No amount of booster money can save a coaching position because off the section’s restrictions.

In Huntington Beach’s case, the district wants to cut the sophomore and assistant sophomore football coaches, co-ed badminton coaches and frosh/soph baseball coaches, which would eliminate those teams. The moves are expected to save the district $48,600.

Fund-raising could help offset transportation costs. It appears schools, as opposed to districts, will have to supply their own transportation, either by parents driving, as in Irvine’s case, or by chartering buses, in many other instances.

In the Orange district this year, each of the four high schools was allowed by the district to spend $14,000 on transportation. But the district tab will come to $152,000, according to Dave Zirkle, Orange High athletic director.

“I was told to write a memo explaining the budgeting problems, and then it becomes someone else’s problem,” Zirkle said.

Next up is trimming sports.

“I look at our athletic budget at Orange, and the most expensive sports are football, baseball and tennis. It’s conceivable that they’ll start trimming the frosh/soph tennis and baseball teams.

“Every year you know (cuts) are coming, so as a rule of thumb, you always ask for more and then hope they don’t trim too much. The worst thing you can do is fail to budget something, because when it comes time to trim, if you don’t have something budgeted you’ll never get it.”

The fight is ongoing throughout the county, but it must be resolved soon.

Gov. Wilson has asked the Legislature to deliver a spending plan by May 1, 45 days ahead of the June 15 deadline called for by the state constitution.

Districts must produce budget plans before then to offset the expected cuts. Hoping for the best, athletic directors and others are preparing for the worst.

Said Clower, the Edison athletic director: “It’s all pretty frightening.”

ATHLETICS FACING THE KNIFE

Potential cuts involving athletics in Orange County school districts:

Anaheim Union High School: Athletic directors have not yet been given proposals.

Brea Unified: Elimination of 13 assistant coaching positions and junior high programs.

Capistrano Unified: No athletic cuts planned, but school board is considering three proposals to trim $4.3 million from overall budget.

Fullerton Joint Union High School: Overall reduction of 15% in supplies and equipment requested, including $2,000 total for basketballs, tennis balls, football helmets and shoulder pads.

Garden Grove Unified: No firm numbers, but cuts expected for transportation and lower priority teams.

Huntington Beach Union High School: Elimination of sophomore football, freshman/sophomore baseball and co-ed badminton as part of $2.6-million overall cuts.

Irvine Unified: Transportation cuts, with parents asked to volunteer to drive athletes to events.

Laguna Beach Unified: No cuts planned.

Los Alamitos Unified: Not available.

Newport-Mesa Unified: Proposed $100,000 cut in athletic transportation, to be made up in part by scheduling events closer to home.

Orange Unified: Expected elimination of nine administrative and 22 teaching positions. Cuts in transportation and football filming budgets.

Placentia Unified: Boys’ volleyball and basketball coaches at Esperanza have been given Reduction In Force notices with regard to their teaching positions, and athletic director has been reassigned. The future of all three positions is undecided.

Saddleback Valley Unified: Trim of $5-6 million possibly needed from overall budget. Athletic figures not yet specified.

Santa Ana Unified: Proposed dropping of golf, gymnastics, field hockey and junior high athletics in effort to trim $400,000.

Tustin Unified: Not available.