Budget Crisis Ominous for Sports

Faced with another state budget crisis, those who believe strongly in the importance of high school sports had better be prepared for more grueling battles like those fought in the early 1990s.

Everyone is gearing up for the mother of all debates: What should be done to reduce a state budget deficit estimated between $21 billion and $30 billion?

The last time the state faced such a crisis was 1991-92, when there was a $14-billion deficit. It was ugly, with colleges and high schools forced to cut athletic programs.

Long Beach State dropped football, swimming and tennis. UC Irvine got rid of baseball. Moorpark College discontinued men’s tennis and men’s golf.

The Los Angeles Unified School District dropped junior varsity football and cut back practice games for varsity baseball and basketball. The Anaheim Union High School District cut JV football, sophomore basketball and freshman baseball.

The Huntington Beach Union High School District trimmed coaching stipends for sophomore football, frosh-soph baseball and boys’ and girls’ swimming assistants. The Los Alamitos Unified School District cut assistant coaching stipends for football, swimming, cross-country and wrestling.

The San Diego Unified School District eliminated water polo, soccer, swimming and golf.

Imagine how bad it could be this time, considering the deficit is, perhaps, double what it was 10 years ago.

“From everything we hear, this is worse,” said Chuck Eklund, director of secondary education for the Thousand Oaks-based Conejo Valley Unified School District. “I think everything is on the table, and I don’t think it’s a phony threat. These are going to be difficult times.”

School district superintendents across the state have been meeting to exchange ideas and scenarios. No one knows how deep the cuts will be to education until the state legislature acts. But cuts, indeed, are coming and they will, undoubtedly, include sports programs.

“I don’t know how massive [the cuts] will be,” said Marie Ishida, executive director of the California Interscholastic Federation. “[What programs are trimmed] will be up to each school district.”

Ishida said non-varsity sports could take the biggest hit, with districts potentially saving millions by cutting coaching stipends and bus transportation.

But cutting sports programs comes with a price, of which school board members must be wary. It’s the quickest way to attract negative media coverage.

In 1997, when Cal State Northridge cut four men’s sports teams because of budget and gender-equity concerns, community uproar forced an immediate retreat. Within two years, the school’s president, her second in command and the athletic director had resigned.

There are no easy choices facing school boards. Do you cut nurses or coaches? Do you cut janitors or security guards? Do you cut Advanced Placement classes or the marching band?

There are many who don’t want to see any programs cut, but increasing taxes or participation fees is not a popular alternative.

The City Section receives $80,000 from the LAUSD to help pay for its sports teams to play championship events at such facilities as the Coliseum, the Forum and Dodger Stadium. That money may disappear, forcing the section to rely on corporate generosity that rarely comes through.

“Who knows how we’re going to try to save money, but I think everyone is going to be looking at trying to maximize revenues or cutting expenses,” Ishida said.

Coaches have become, of necessity, adept at raising money.

They have players selling Christmas trees and candy bars. They hold car washes, bowl-a-thons, walk-a-thons and golf tournaments, all designed to help pay for equipment, uniforms and travel expenses.

Those funds may have to be diverted for coaching and referee stipends.

Some sports teams were resurrected or saved in the 1990s because of fund-raising efforts. But those came about only after emotional, gut-wrenching public confrontations between coaches, students, parents and school board members that nobody wants to repeat.

Those involved with high school sports programs are willing to join in the sacrifice needed to survive these difficult economic times, but they won’t stand for school board members using the threat of cutbacks to influence other agendas, such as imploring Sacramento politicians to raise taxes.

Voters know when elected representatives are playing games, and they won’t accept their children’s athletic or extracurricular programs being held hostage.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.