For high schools in the Lompoc Unified School District dealing with the reality of 30-percent cuts to their athletic budgets, it’s come to this: Student-athletes at Lompoc and Cabrillo high schools are now being asked to contribute $100 to their schools in order to participate in sports, regardless of the type or number of sports they’re involved in. The fee will be charged once a year and is capped at $200 for households with more than one student.
Call it what you will, school officials say, just don’t call it “pay to play.”
“It’s a contribution,” said Cabrillo High School’s athletic director, Bob Lawrence. “It’s asking the school board to keep sports alive.”
Threatened with elimination of some sports and faced with a reduction of physical education classes and athletic contests, Lawrence said the fee represents a necessary, albeit temporary solution to a problem faced by many districts throughout the country.
“We were going to do anything we could to not lose any sports,” Lawrence said. “We don’t want any of them to go away, and the school board understands this.”
Lompoc High School’s athletic director, Donnie Cross, who presented the idea to the Lompoc Unified School District Board of Education on Sept. 8 with Lawrence, said the fee was a last resort to help cover a $130,000 cut to his school’s athletic program.
“We don’t want them to have to pay, but it was either that or just flat-out eliminate some sports,” Cross explained. “So we decided to give this a go to see if we could pull off the savings.”
“I’m sure no one’s tickled pink to do it,” he added.
The changes aren’t limited to the fee. According to Cross, both schools will be scheduling fewer events and canceling some that are already on the schedule. They’re also holding off on buying new equipment or uniforms unless absolutely necessary.
The fee impacts about 700 student-athletes in the Lompoc Valley, roughly 45 percent of the combined student body for the schools. The financial impact could have been worse on some. The athletic departments of both schools considered charging extra for each additional sport, but didn’t want to discourage students from participating in multiple sports.
So far, Cross and Lawrence haven’t seen a drop-off in fall participation, which is good news to educators worried that fees might prompt students to sit this year out.
According to Lawrence, district administrators recognize the importance of sports for keeping students active and engaged in the classroom. He said students wouldn’t be prohibited from taking part in a sport if they can’t afford the fee, and payment plans will be available for families with financial difficulties
“No one will be denied,” Lawrence said. “We’re not going to keep kids from playing just because they can’t afford it.”
Students will also have the option of working off the fee and can be sponsored by members of the community, Lawrence said.
Lompoc Unified School District’s superintendent of business services, Sheldon Smith, said it’s too early to tell whether the fees will keep the school’s athletic programs within their budgets.
“This is uncharted territory for Lompoc schools,” he said. “It’s certainly going to help, without question.”
According to Smith, Lompoc High School’s athletic budget for 2009-10 is $296,587, down 31 percent from the $428,197 the school spent last year on sports.
Cabrillo High’s budget for the year is $334,932, a 28-percent decrease from last year’s expenditures.
Smith explained that by cutting back on scheduling in addition to implementing the fees, schools could lessen the costs of transportation and having to refurbish athletic equipment every year.
“The whole idea is not to reduce sports so that students don’t participate,” Smith said. “The idea is to scale back the number of contests so the same number of sports are available, just at a reduced scope.”
Charging fees for scholastic sports isn’t a novel idea. Other districts across the state, including Santa Ynez, have implemented similar programs, according to Lawrence.
Lawrence said he has yet to receive any complaints from parents about the fees and doesn’t think it will dissuade any students from participating.
“We know that other schools are doing it, and we don’t want to lose our sports,” Lawrence said. “Maybe we’ll lose them someday and be like Europe where they don’t have school athletics, but right now we’re trying to save them.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas has to pay to write. Contact him at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 17-24, 2009.