Could It Be? Good News for Schools? : Supermarket chain will give $10 million to save L.A. district’s athletic program

Finally, some good news for the children of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Money is coming in for a change. Instead of another cutback, a valuable program is actually being preserved.

The athletic program for Los Angeles public schools will be saved for the next three years by a $10-million grant from Food 4 Less Supermarkets Inc., through its The Boys/Viva Foundation. Just recently schools Supt. Sid Thompson warned that sports programs were likely to take another major cut as the district struggles with a deficit estimated at $137 million. That kind of bad news has become common in the district, financially strapped for the last few years.

This record contribution to the school district is invaluable because, as Willie West, the coach of Crenshaw High School’s state championship basketball team, put it, “Athletics are more than winning and losing; they contribute to the students’ self-esteem, instill a sense of accomplishment and teamwork, and encourage students to strive for success.”

So there’s good reason to celebrate the supermarket chain’s gift to Los Angeles public schools. But it’s also important not to relax too much; what happens after the three-year grant expires?

For one thing, other corporations should follow the example of Food 4 Less. It would be a real demonstration of commitment to Los Angeles, as well as a significant public gesture, for a corporation to donate funds that would benefit more than 27,000 student athletes. Across the nation, public school districts are turning to corporate sponsors for help.

Other options may need to be explored in order to continue the sports programs of Los Angeles’ public schools. In San Francisco, half of the $1-million budget for interscholastic sports teams is generated by fans of the Giants baseball team, who pay a 25-cent tax each time they buy a ticket. The other $500,000 in the school sports budget comes from a 75-cent ticket tax paid by fans of football’s 49ers.

Los Angeles has been slow to investigate and pursue new ways of financing athletics. Now, public-private partnerships and, yes, possibly even minimal ticket taxes may be the only way to keep a rich and varied sports curriculum for students in the L.A. Unified School District. And few people would argue with the notion that sports, from football to drill team, motivate a lot of youngsters to persevere--a quality that can be put to top use in learning in the classroom.