Sports spending way out of whack
Why are your real estate taxes so high, especially your school districts' portion? Start reading the high school sports pages for a partial answer.
In 1950, Chicago schools participated in three major sports. Football (eight games), basketball (eight), and baseball (14). How quaint. Here's how high school sports have grown since:
The 1950 state championship boys baseball team played 24 games. In 2007 the Class AA champs played 42 games. The 2007 girls softball champs (41 games), girls volleyball (43 games). Are we starting to see a pattern here?
The Illinois High School Association now sanctions many other sports for state championship play and are considering adding new "emerging sports" such as lacrosse, hockey (where rent for one hour of ice time at a rink average $250 per hour), competitive dance, pom pons and drill team. But the best new "sport" that has been added is bass fishing. I'm not making this up.
Does the IHSA know that school district budgets all over the state are bleeding red ink?
Yes, I know that parents are required to pay activity fees. I do not feel that they come close to covering expenses.
Spare me the argument that I am depriving a deserving student athlete the opportunity to earn a scholarship. It does not take a college scout 41 games to pick out a "gifted" athlete.
Understand, I have no problem contributing my fair share to pay for quality teachers and textbooks. But I draw the line at having to pay for the dream of some parent who thinks their child is the next Brian Urlacher or Mia Hamm.
So the next time you go to a school board meeting, ask the members of the board what percentage of the budget goes to athletics. Also, does that percentage include transportation costs for busing players to away games, uniforms, coaches' salaries, officials' salaries, and the cost of opening the school at 6 a.m. so the teams can practice?
Finally, the IHSA has designated cheerleading as a "sport" with four classes of state championships. The problem with this is that "Cheerleading causes more catastrophic injuries resulting in paralysis or death among high school and college age girls than any other sport, " according to Web/MD.
Question: When a high school decides to field a cheerleading team, who pays for the insurance costs? Could it be the taxpayers? Just thought I'd ask.
Can we really justify the absurd amounts being spent on sports when our children and grandchildren graduate without learning reading, writing and arithmetic?
Gus Gustafson
Huntley