Indiana

Pay to Play

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

Franklin Township Schools are looking at charging students to play sports as a way to shore up its budget shortfall.

According my friends over at Fox 59, the school board is trying to cut nearly $7 million from its budget. The district is already looking at cutting more than 50 teaching positions and requiring students to pay for bus service.

The plan also calls for a user fee for students who want to play sports. A recent survey showed it could cost each student athlete $600 to play sports.

Franklin Township is going to be an interesting case study to watch.  While I don’t dislike high school athletics, I don’t think they are necessary for a good education as football, basketball, baseball and soccer can all be done at the league level and not necessarily done on the school district level.  Either way, this is going to be interesting to watch.

I still wonder though how much did Franklin Township look at consolidation, sharing resources with other schools and privatizing or outsourcing non-instructional school functions before going straight for the jugular of firing teachers and charging students to play football and ride the bus.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on January 13, 2010 (boomark / email).