Springfield sports cuts decried

SPRINGFIELD — It’s only $100,000 out of more than $8 million in reductions that the Springfield School District must find to balance its 2011-12 budget, but to the athletes and their parents who showed up in force Thursday night at the district’s Administration Center, it’s everything.

“Are we having a popularity contest here?” asked a visibly upset Scott Cardwell, a Springfield High School teacher and wrestling coach, in addressing the district’s Budget Committee. Cardwell said he has 60 wrestlers in his program, many of whom would be at-risk of dropping out were it not for the sport.

Thursday’s session, an opportunity billed to hear Superintendent Nancy Golden’s budget message, drew a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100. Many were there to express their concerns about proposed reductions in extracurricular activities.

Golden’s proposed 2011-12 budget of $126 million includes an $83.7 million general fund operating budget that’s $1.65 million less than this year’s — part of the reality of the district’s $8.3 million total budget shortfall for next school year. And while the bulk of the cuts will come from about $5 million in staff reductions and employee concessions, $300,000 would come from eliminating certain sports and activities districtwide.

That includes saving $100,000 by turning cross-country, boys and girls soccer and swimming at both Thurston and Springfield high schools into club sports — meaning that all funds supporting them would have to be raised by those teams. Wrestling at Springfield High and co-ed cheer at Thurston would also be converted to club sports.

All the affected sports would remain members of the Oregon School Activities Association, and thus still be eligible to compete in state championships and remain as members of the Midwestern League. But several who spoke at the meeting expressed doubts about the sports’ survival if district funding is cut.

“All the programs are lifelines to these kids,” said Springfield High cheerleading coach Janet Fryback, who came to the meeting expecting to see her sport on the chopping block, but was relieved to find otherwise. She said she felt compelled to speak out, though, for others whose sports could be affected.

“It’s their life for so many of these kids,” Fryback said of the athletic offerings. “It’s what makes school important.”

The other $200,000 in sports and activities cuts would include $60,000 in reductions to coaches’ stipends; $60,000 in athletic director stipends; $40,000 by eliminating athletic trainers who work for the district; and $40,000 saved by activities eliminated as a result of the closure of Springfield Middle School, as well as the elimination of stipends to activity directors at the high schools.

The latter cut means that the following programs at Thurston and Springfield High would have to raise their own money to survive: Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA), Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA), Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and Students Opposed to Drugs and Alcohol (SODA). Class advisers would fall under student government supervision; newspaper stipends would end; and positions of weight room supervisors, assistant band director, assistant drama director and auditorium managers would be eliminated.

After more than an hour of public comment, Golden called the testimony “heart-wrenching.”

“We’ve just got to keep talking,” she said. “I think we’re all just searching for how to make the cuts we need. And be creative as we can be, and engage the community.”

The budget committee — which is made up of board members and citizen volunteers — will meet again Thursday to further discuss the budget, and yet again on June 8 if necessary. The school board will vote on the budget at its June 27 meeting.

Matt Coleman, the district’s director of secondary education, said golf and tennis at both Springfield and Thurston high schools lost their funding last year to budget cuts and were converted to club sports. So far, both sports at both schools survive, and all teams — boys and girls — competed in the Midwestern League this spring, Coleman said. “But it’s a challenge,” he added.

The district did a cost-benefit analysis to determine which sports to eliminate, Coleman said.

Cardwell, the wrestling coach, said the 60 wrestlers in his program contribute more to the district in participation fees than do the 30 or so players on the boys’ basketball teams.

But Coleman said it’s also necessary to look at gate receipts. And football and boys basketball rule in those areas.

Golden commended the district’s employees for stepping up earlier this month and accepting concessions for another year. Those concessions include taking five unpaid furlough days in 2011-12, after taking seven furlough days this year. The concessions will allow the district to add back two instructional days next year, going from 166 this year to 168 in 2011-12.

“I need to compliment how smoothly we’ve been able to work side-by-side,” said Golden, who has herself agreed to take a 5 percent salary cut as of July 1, decreasing her base salary from 134,580 to $127,851.

Other savings are coming from the closure of three elementary schools, Camp Creek, Goshen and Mohawk, and Springfield Middle School, at the end of the year. The staff reductions include cutting the equivalent of about 40 full-time teaching and other certified positions; the equivalent of about 62 full-time classified positions; and five full-time administrative and supervisory positions.