Worst yet to come for area schools

In assessing the damage the economy has caused high school sports, local school administrators and athletic directors make it sound much like being a fan of the Chicago Cubs.

Wait till next year.

Or the year after next.

Because school funding from July through July of a given academic year is based on numbers, taxation amounts and economic statistics from a prior year, the 2008 economic downturn has not produced much affect to date.

Sources say it will.

"There's going to be a huge difference," said Andy Livingston, not only Lake Park's head varsity football coach but also president of Lake Park Education Association District 108.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) is used by Illinois as the basis of tax collection, according to Livingston.

The CPI that affected the 2008-09 school year, taken from December 2007, was 4.1 percent. Due to an 18-month lag time, the CPI figure that will cause consternation is that taken from December 2008, of 0.1 percent.

In an example provided by Lake Park assistant superintendent for business services Jeff O'Connell, say at 4.1 percent a school's new revenue comes in at $1.6 million. At that 0.1 CPI the take is less than $50,000.

"That's a drastic difference between the revenues we'll be getting in for next year's budget versus the revenues we'll be getting in in 18 months, starting in July of 2010," O'Connell said.

Though some school districts have separate funds for athletics, the majority are lumped in to the general education fund. Eventually, it may come that there will be much negotiating over priorities, what goes and what stays.

Glenbard High School District 87 saw two failed referendums for tax increases during the 2004-05 school year, with the fallout being cuts in several levels of sports and clubs, and increased athletic participation fees. All levels have been restored, said Glenbard West athletic director Linda Oberg, and Hilltoppers athletics have since added boys volleyball, girls field hockey and boys lacrosse.

"Part of the reason why we were able to keep going as strong as we did go when the referendums failed is because our booster program helped us a lot and we increased our activity fee (to $130 per participant, per sport)," she said.

(Neuqua Valley's Athletic Booster Club, which charges $30 to join, just donated 150 warmup suits to the boys track program; generous booster programs are not unusual.)

Oberg also noted each Glenbard West athletic squad is allowed one in-season fundraiser and one out-of-season fundraiser to secure funds for their own program or "to help another ailing program."

"Having said all that, dire times is when you count on boosters and fundraisers to get you through," she said. "But it shouldn't be the kids' responsibility to fund these activities; it shouldn't be the boosters' responsibility to fund it. It should only be a fallback in dire times."

Happy days aren't here again, they're not presently dire. At Lisle Senior High, athletic director Dan Dillard speculated that smaller crowds at basketball games could be seen as a product of less discretionary income. He also speculated it could be the product of sub-.500 records.

More than any local school, Lisle racks up frequent-driver miles. The Lions routinely face 100-mile round-trips to play Interstate Eight Conference foes like Dwight and Seneca. Even in tougher times than now at the gas pump, it didn't seem travel costs were a huge issue.

"In terms of trips and travel, I have heard no more conversation than I have heard annually," Dillard said. "I hate to say we're recession-proof, but so far we haven't had to make real difficult choices."

Private schools, reliant on tuition and donations for funding rather than tax money, are affected a little more, but not much at present.

"Right now we're in a position basically where we're buying the essentials. We're pushing off the new uniforms for the time being," said Immaculate Conception athletic director Darren Howard.

He did say donations to the Elmhurst school are down and wonders how families will come up with tuition. "To this point we're not terribly affected by it, at my level," he said.

Wheaton Academy athletic director Paul Ferguson said basically the same thing: "We've kind of just stayed with the same course of what we've been doing."

At many schools the course may change. "This year we were actually doing pretty well," Oberg said. "Next year could be a totally different story."

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