Massachusetts' funding for school sports, music and the arts is in serious trouble. Right behind California and Florida.
Massachusetts Sportzine Strategy
The state's financial condition has been serious for years and governors, legislators and voters have refused to deal with it. There is no encouraging news with the newest administration.
Add the December agreement between the ACLU and the state of California dealing with pay-to-learn and pay-to-play fees and there is a new sense of urgency in finding funding solutions for extra-curricular activities.
Massachusetts has over 377 high schools and 33 sanctioned sports. We are looking to establish 6 to 7 Sportzines with 50 to 100 high schools each to cover the state effectively including Boston metro, Lowell, SE MA, Worcester, Springfield and probably two in the western portion of the state. Sportzines will share sports information and allow visitors to move between Sportzines seamlesly.
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Massachusetts News
MA: Students raising more funds
This marks the first year athletic programs are funded exclusively through user fees and fundraising. In 2009, the user fee was $150 per athlete, per sport in 2009, with a $500 family cap.
10-Jan-2011, Milford Daily News; MilfordDailyNews.com, By Julie Balise
MA: Parents, Athletes Await Decision on Sports Fees
School Committee will decide on family cap tonight, while coaches report certain winter sports are suffering. None of the family caps being suggested are as low as $1,000
14-Dec-2010, Arlington Patch; Arlington, MA, By Kaitlyn Laabs and Natalie Trusso Cafarello
MA: The High Cost Of High School Sports
User fees, booster clubs and budget cuts are now facts of life for young athletes and their families.
29-Nov-2010, CBSlocal.com; Boston, MA
MA: MetroWest schools continue to increase athletic fees
How high will the fees will have to be to continue to have athletic programs. In Arlington, that number this year is from $400 to $700 per sport, an increase opposed by parents and coaches.
16-Nov-2010, MetroWest Daily News, By Scott O'Connell/Daily News staff, Framingham, MA
MA: Parents protest athlete fee hike at Arlington HS
Doug Fagan said he will have to pay $1,500 for his son to play three sports at the high school this year, almost double what he paid last year.
07-Nov-2010, Boston.com; Arlington, MA
MA: To play, you pay!
Students stand outside stores, cans in hand, appealing for donations. Parents struggle to pay higher and higher fees. Booster clubs organize events they pray will draw crowds with deep pockets. Athletic directors sweat over every expense.
29-Aug-2010, Boston Globe, Boston.com
MA: School committee votes to cut all Mansfield athletics
Facing a $1.8 million deficit, the Mansfield school committee voted Tuesday night to eliminate all after-school activities, including all athletics, according to newly crowned athletic director Joe Russo.
14-Apr-2010, The Boston Globe, Boston.com
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ACLU: Pay-to-Play and Most Fees Illegal
In December, the game changed for California schools when an agreement between the ACLU and the state of California eliminated all fees for curricular and extra-curricular activities.
Impact of ACLU Agreement
School districts have been supplementing their budgets with clas, lab and activity fees and slashing money from extra-curricular activities. These cuts to sports, music and the arts forced the introduction of "pay-to-play" fees.
With the deeper cuts from the district budgets because of the loss of class and activity fees and the loss of pay-to-play fees, there is no way for sports, music and arts programs to make up the double loss to their programs.
Parents and local businesses need to join together to develop long term, high value fundraising programs that can fill the funding void. Sportzine publishers provide strategies and technology to do just that.
Sportzines can be a significant part of the solution. It will take great ideas, hard work and the best people.
Time is of the essence
To be most effective, booster clubs should begin stepping up their fundraising campaigns long before they are desperate. They will need a strong, productive partner to guid them and to provide high value campaigns that work. Today is a good day to begin.
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A Bad Situation Creates an Exceptional Opportunity
Life or legislation sometimes creates new opportunities. The Americans with Disabilities Act drove tens of billions of dollars to build new ramps, reserve parking spaces, lower bathroom fixtures, etc. Katrina made some contractors rich.
Now, years of failure to deal with the impending budget issues at the federal, state, county and municipal levels are culminating in a budgeting crisis at all levels. And extra-curricular activities are being sacrificed.
It's time to Change the Game
Athletes, parents, teams and booster clubs are going to be left to their own resources to pick up the funding challenge. But they don't have the organizational maturity, volunteer base, technology or marketing tools to go from raising $1,000 a year to $25,000 or even more.
No single idea or company can "save" school sports, music and the arts. But any company that can make even a 20% difference will be welcomed with open arms.
In Massachusetts, the rules of the game have changed and they aren't working. It is the fourth quarter and the clock is running.
Sportzine Publishers can be key players in the new game making the most of a bad situation and offering solutions that work. Find out more today.
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