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Mostly Cloudy Budget uncertainty could reduce sports funding
The Oceanside School District’s second budget workshop ran into uncertainty as the state’s silence on school aid forced district officials to tentatively cut four assistant coaches from its sports program. The March 3 meeting focused on special education, technology and athletics.
Before the discussion began, Chris Van Cott, the assistant superintendent for business, said that the maximum tax levy increase for a simple-majority approval of the 2015-16 budget is 1.56 percent, or $1.8 million. “At this point, we fully expect to present a budget to the board and the community that stays within that amount,” Van Cott said.
As the spending plan stands now, varsity football and middle school wrestling, gymnastics and football would each lose an assistant coach, reducing the total allocated for coaching salaries, $610,596, by $7,789. As a result, each team might have to reduce the number of students it accepts.
Lynn Woods, president of the PTA council and the mother of a wrestler, said she was concerned that the loss of an assistant coach would mean less supervision at tournaments. “You’re at tournaments where there could be three matches, four matches going on at a time,” Woods said. “And two of your teammates, three of your teammates could be wresting, and the coach needs to be on the mat. Would it be something that you would consider to have per diems to help?”
Superintendent Phyllis Harrington said that was a great suggestion, and that she would make that request of Athletic Director Jeffery Risener. “We recognize that by reducing assistant coaches, we run the risk of having to cut more kids off teams that we would really otherwise prefer not doing,” Harrington said. “We’re all waiting to hear, ultimately, at the end of the day, the amount of state aid that is coming our way. We obviously have to plan and project our budget with a number that’s a guesstimate.”
