How does a school keep budgets in line when they are supplied a smaller range of money each year?


Lately, schools across America have been experiencing budget cuts due to the recession. Sports have been a major target of these cuts. Hershey High school has had to adjust as a result of the economy. How much does Hershey spend on funding for sports and how well are the needs of the teams met with this limited budget?


Sitting at his desk with papers scattered, answering calls diligently and using sport related terms as he makes athletic suggestions is none other than the athletic director of HHS. Mr. Michael Mckonly, a retired athletic director at Manheim Township from 1995-2006, is the interim athletic director at Hershey High school in place of Sam Elias. McKonly has taught 36 years in education, 11 of which as an athletic director. The job of the athletic director is to oversee sports. This is done a variety of different ways such as “scheduling games, arranging buses, ordering equipment,” said McKonly. Along with that, budgeting is a big part of the job.


This year, the sports budget is approximately $420,000, not including coaching salaries and busing. The budget is “divided by sports from factors such as the size of the team and the cost of the equipment needed for each sport,” said McKonly. With costs like $50 a football helmet and $200 a baseball bat, it’s safe to say that equipment is a big chunk of the sports budget as stated by Mckonly. Another huge portion of the sports budget is game officials. “Officials fees for lacrosse are especially expensive; we tend to spend around $350 on them [all together] per game,” said McKonly. Other expenses of the budget consist of things such as the coaches’ salaries, uniforms and entry fees.


Though the school does cover the majority of the fees that are associated with each sport, there are certain things they do not provide to the teams. Perks, such as team apparel and banquets, are not supplied under the school’s overall funding. This is why most teams have what is known as a booster club. A booster club is “an organization that helps support the program and the kids in anyway,” as defined by football coach Jose Ortiz.


Ortiz has coached football for a total of nine years, two of which were at Middletown and the other seven at Hershey. The football team did things such as sell local business discount cards and hold barbecues in order to raise money for their booster club. Not only was fundraising used in football, but in many other sports such as cross country, swimming, basketball and softball. Some held car washes, sold chocolates, had bake sales; all kinds of things were done in order to compile the money for merchandise such as t-shirts and hoodies or celebrations like banquets.


It is clear that the coaches as well as the players see the significance of putting the extra effort into funding for the bonuses they acquire.


“If everything was just given to them [the runners], they wouldn’t appreciate it as much,” said cross country and track coach, Haley Bitner.


“The school can’t leak all their money into sports. All the extras, the team should be responsible for,” said HHS sophomore soccer player Lyaga Munyofu.


It even seems the team members get more out of the experience than just their customized gear; it’s been agreed upon that fundraising has resulted in a closer team.


“Fundraising is good team bonding and creates unity amongst the team members,” said Bitner.


“The fundraiser not only brought in a lot of money, but helped bring the team together as well,” said HHS sophomore swimmer and volleyball player Asher Hollenbeak.


“Turned out to be a bonding experience,” said Munyofu.


With the school’s limited funding amount for sports, a few questions arise. Does the school fund enough for sports? Also, does the school do a good job with the budget they are given?


“Everybody's going to want more but I think the school does a nice job with it. They would spend the money if they saw the need,” said McKonly.


“Right now we do, but we’re definitely heading down a road where that’s going to change,” said Ortiz in foresight of what’s to come.


“Yes, right now the budget is a bit tight but the students are well supplied,” said Bitner.


Though the school does a commendable job with it, based on the thoughts of both the student body and staff, the decreasing annual budget doesn’t go unnoticed by coaches.


Upon arrival to Hershey High School, Ortiz noticed an incline in funding in comparison to his previous coaching location of Middletown. Now he has come to another conclusion about the funding for sports at HHS: “it’s getting to a point where it’s similar to where I was before [Middletown],” confessed Ortiz.


As a result of the reduction in funding, “they were going to do away with indoor track completely,” said Bitner. This didn’t happen due to the making of a petition in opposition of this decision. Though indoor track wasn’t cut as a whole, “the numbers of meets have decreased,” said Bitner.


Hershey High School, in addition to many others, has been adjusting to a continually shrinking budget for the athletic department. Though Hershey continues to make it work, there’s still fear held by coaches and teachers of a massive drop in future funding or even the cutting of sports completely.


“I think the more popular sports such as football won’t be hit as hard; sports such as running or soccer will be more greatly affected,” said Bitner.


Since the majority of the decreasing budget is directly linked to external forces such as the economy, is there really anything we can do about it?


“The way I see it, it’s out of our hands as much as we hate to admit it,” said Ortiz.