Should Taxes Continue to Fund High School Sports?

I can hear the hate calls and off-the-wall Spout Off comments as this column is taking form. They will paint me as a hopeless dork; un-American as Fidel Castro and Osama bin Laden, but here it goes.
Would it be possible to have an even-handed debate on something that is bugging some Spouters and maybe a few other taxpayers?
The sacrosanct subject: High school sports.
Before you pick up bricks to throw, listen to the Spouters’ general point of view: In tough times, when education (school) budgets are climbing through the roof, state aid is flatter than a pancake and taxpayers are lucky to have food enough to eat and a job, is it right to continue to fund school sports with taxes?
The spouters point out that education budgets are to fund reading, writing and arithmetic. They are not meant to be spent on making a first down in a football, scoring a goal in soccer or making two points in a basketball game.
True, many life lessons are learned on the playing field, but most of what we learn, really learn about life, is not learned in school.
If schools desire to host teams, and parents desire their children to participate in sports — and there is certainly nothing wrong with that — let them join booster clubs, hold fundraisers, and take the burden off taxpayers’ backs.
These are not usual times. We expect concessions from union workers. The state is furloughing employees a couple of days to save a buck. These are extreme times, unlike anything most of us have experienced. What worked yesterday and last year, last decade, won’t work today.
These are hard times, and they will not turn around in the next year or longer. Therefore, it is time to rethink how we fund everything including schools and extracurricular events.
It is a valid point. Even if a son or daughter is a stellar sport, it may be time to turn to volunteer coaches.
Taxes do not fund Little League teams, and there are certainly plenty of them. Youth soccer leagues are bursting with children. The folks at home make those leagues happen, not overburdened taxpayers.
When did it become okay to use taxes to pay coaches, most teachers already drawing public salaries, several thousand dollars extra each sport season?
It is not just coaches who get those Schedule B salary add-ons. Each extra job from play coach to yearbook advisor is entitled to a stipend for extra work outside ordinary teaching.
Keep in mind; it is not just one coach drawing a check. In most cases, there is a main coach and often several assistant coaches who field a team. There are also referees to be paid, and don’t forget ground maintenance, irrigation, crews to mow the fields, and electric to light to fields for after-dark games.
Can we expect anything less from a society that has elevated professional sports far above academics?
Youngsters idolize professional athletes who draw obscene salaries to do what amateurs do for pleasure. Cities place taxpayers in hock for countless millions of dollars to build stadiums where the masses go to be fleeced with outrageous ticket prices and, once inside, fed with sky-high priced food and drinks.
Does a down economy stop fans from flocking to stadiums? Not a chance. Six-dollar beers and $5 hot dogs do not deter dyed-in-the-wool sports fan.
So why should they flinch at forking over more taxes at home when the boys and girls want to place hockey or track or baseball after school?
If sports advocates believe there is an inalienable right for youngsters to play sports on the public’s buck, why not place the question on the next school board election? Make it a non-binding referendum, so that it does not have to kill sports if the majority turns thumbs down on the measure.
At least the board of education would know the sentiment of the public they serve and tax.
If sufficient rate payers believe it’s worth maybe $10,000 a year in taxes to field a sports team, they will show their superior numbers at the poll, and that will end the discussion.
I envision teeth gritting right now, blood pressure soaring, faithful readers cursing me as an infidel, a scourge upon mankind for writing such blasphemy.
A school’s athletic directors is likely checking the telephone number to call and blast my ear off even as you read this.
They are preparing to tell me that, without sports, many deserving boys and girls would never have a chance to enter college.
They will point to families that don’t have two nickels to rub together that view high school sports as the avenue Sonja or Oscar can take to the inside of an Ivy League school.
Taxpayer, what say you? Does the end justify the means, and the tax bill that must be paid?
Could the same goal be achieved by a private sports team funded through auctions or golf games, car washes or service projects?
Our Opinion pages are open to let the public learn both sides of this issue. Keep letters to 600 words. Try not to kill the messenger because you disagree with the message.