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JAMAL THALJIThe county school board meets tonight to consider not only raising athletic fees but charging for each sport rather than a flat rate.
In Pasco County, 42 percent of public school students grades 6-12 are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches under the National School Lunch Act.
Of the county's 27,399 secondary school students, 5,529 in middle school and 6,062 in high school qualified for help paying for $2 lunches on Feb. 7, said Rick Kurtz, director of the district's food, nutrition and distribution services.
So, county coaches and athletic directors ask, if so many students qualify for help paying for lunch, how will they afford hundreds of dollars in athletic fee increases?
That is a question the Pasco County School Board must consider at 6 tonight during a meeting at 7227 Land O'Lakes Blvd. The board will be asked to approve $10.3-million worth of cuts to the district's $586-million budget.
"It's scary because some kids might go through the cracks," Ridgewood baseball coach Larry Beets said. "Some good kids who need sports and are embarrassed might not go up to the coach and say, "My parents can't afford this.' "
Some of the proposals: eliminating seventh- and ninth-grade athletic teams and cross county middle school competition, and keeping the number of junior varsity and varsity contests down to the minimum established after last year's cutbacks.
Few objections have been raised about those measures. However, the elimination of 61 instructional support staff positions could leave some schools scrambling to find new coaches.
But the most controversial, and coaches say the most painful, is a proposal that cuts into the budgets of athletes and their families.
The school district wants to raise the athletic fee students pay to participate in school sports by $10, to $45 (middle school) and $60 (high school). No surprise, coaches say.
What surprises them is that it no longer would be a flat fee. If middle school students want to participate in more sports, it would cost an additional $30 per sport. High school students would pay an additional $50 per sport.
Coaches say this measure, if approved, would punish the county's most ambitious athletes and cost athletic programs the students who can't afford to pay hundreds of dollars to play in the fall, winter and spring.
"I know they're looking for all kinds of ways to make budget cuts," Gulf football coach Keith Newton said. "But I think they're really penalizing some kids. It's not a large group but it is a good group. My daughter (Kortney) plays three sports. Now it's going to cost me $160 to for her to play while now it's only costing $50."
"Kids and their parents are going to say "One is enough, I don't have another $50 to give' and I know that will happen around here."
Budget cuts are a fact of life for school districts across the state, and the nation, coaches acknowledge. But times are tough for families too, they argue.
"The fee increases are hard on some kids as it is," Gulf boys basketball coach Steve Feldman said. "I'm obviously not in favor of any fee increase, because obviously depending on what type of socioeconomic status you have with some of your kids that $50 or $60 is tough to come by.
"It's not just as easy as "Hey mom and dad, write a check.' There's a lot of kids from a lot of high schools in the county that come from one-parent families with one source of income. Any time you're looking to dig deeper into parents' and kids' pockets, it's becoming very tough to do that."
Athletic fees cover the cost of insurance and help defray the cost of sports. Last year the district collected $243,247 in fees toward the $1,230,428 athletic budget. In the past, athletic boosters helped pay the fees of students who couldn't afford them. What happens if those fees double and triple?
"The thing that troubles me very much about this is you can only squeeze a turnip so much," Feldman said. "After that you don't get anything else, no blood, no money, nothing."