How bad will the KHS athletics be next year?

[onetime]

Oh how this argument will last forever, I wonder how many kids are in extracurricular activities on a given campus. Take any inner city school, I would guess that of the 300 plus male athletes less then 40% of them have homes that enforce the importance of education and passing classes. I just want to illustrate these points for a point of discussion.

1. It is the coaching staff that often serves the role as the parental figure that discusses the importance of education.
2. These kids, at least most of them understand the concept of pass and play and attempt to pass
3. Teachers often often often call members of the coaching staff in order to handle unruly kids that play sports.
4. Teachers often have a carrot to dangle in front of these kids (believe it or not)
5. Have you ever had the opportunity to teach a senior that is done with athletics? Imagine that instead of a semester, you have to deal with that for four years. (Not talking about the 10 percent kids either)
6. It can be argued that education and athletics are tied together, I would bet a months salary that if you took football and basketball away from Killeen high the dropout rate would increase dramatically. The schools attendance would rise, taks and eoc failure would increase and so on and so on. All of these things are directly tied to state funding and TEA standards.

[kjpool]

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I am not against athletics in high school and I do understand the importance of athletics in an academic environment. I attended a very small high school (graduating class of 36) and was involved in every athletic event offered (football, basketball, track and baseball).

Athletics is an academic endeavor? Really? Please show me on the KISD report card where the academic subject of "athletics" is listed with a grade for that endeavor? Does this grade get averaged into a students GPA?

Blowing smoke doesn't help your argument and that is about all your post does is blow smoke.

What I am against the the vast budget for athletics. Schools spend millions of dollars each year on this endeavor and KISD doesn't have the money to supply text books to students. Where are the priorities? The priority should be on academics and IF there is money available then it goes to athletics. You are trying to defend a position that is not defendable in todays ecenomic times. The first cut to KISDs budget should be in athletics.

A high school football team doesn't need 5 or 6 coaches and a dozen uniforms. That is a waste of taxpayer money. How much money does KISD spend each year just on coaches salaries?

In Texas STUDENT/ATHLETES receive a pe credit and therefore a grade that DOES count toward their GPA....coaches (except for the campus coordinator who serves as admin) get stipends not salaries which are posted on the KISD website for anyone to see...if you take the number of days/hours that they work (before and afterschool practices/games/scouting/etc) just during their seasons I think (and this an "off the top of my head without actually doing the math" guess) those stipends might amount to roughly about $7-10/hr per sport if they are a head coach...less if they are an assistant.... just how much do you think should be spent on athletics per kid? $10, $20, $0? Well I'm going to guess that there are approximately 6,000 student athletes (high school and middle school) in KISD so $10 a kid is 60,000 dollars ...is that too much? A large district has to put money into the athletic program for it to function. Have you checked out how much one decent football helmet cost? (and yes it does have to be decent because if it sucks in quality it sucks in safety); I'm thinking it cost more than 10 bucks.... and how about the fact that in KISD at least (I have a VERY RELIABLE source on this) not ONE DIME of the revenue brought in by athletics goes directly BACK INTO athletics.. it ALL goes into the general fund that is then spread out to every other program the district has....AND there are plenty of studies out there that PROVE the correlations between extra curricular activities and academics particularly the affects of athletics on a campus culture/climate.....Students who participate in athletics tend to have higher grade-point averages, better attendance records, lower dropout rates and fewer discipline problems than
students generally.

http://instructional1.calstatela.edu...-Academics.pdf

Not to mention what it does to a kid's self esteem (especially for girls).... I could go on and on....athletics as an academic endeavor ABSOLOUTELY AGREE ROODAWG!

[Night Owl]

Good then you spend your money to support the program and leave the taxpayers money alone at least to the point where academics are funded FIRST!!!!!

$60,000 would be fine with me, so would $150,000 but not in the millions. How much does the Athletic Director make? What does he do to earn that money? Why does a public school need an athletic director?

[CenTexDave]

I can see an Athletic Director these days. The UIL has about made that mandatory with so many complex rules and regulations. A city the size of Killeen which has 4 high schools particularly needs one. Cove - ?????

[onetime]

Well said kjpool, I would back your statement up about the hours and pay. I would imagine a Hs basketball coach at Killeen isd works at least 70 hours a week maybe 80 with practices and traveling etc. I wonder if anyone has ever taken a look at that stipend, you would be grossed out. I would bet that a football coach works about 90 hours a week and makes a little more then half of the basketball coach. What about the guy that does both starting in August and going all the way through march or more depending on how well your team is.

[CenTexDave]

I can honestly say that during football season Cove's head coach, Jack Welch, probably puts in more than 100 hours per week. Does he have to? Probably not, but if you want it done right then do it yourself.

[onetime]

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I can honestly say that during football season Cove's head coach, Jack Welch, probably puts in more than 100 hours per week. Does he have to? Probably not, but if you want it done right then do it yourself.

If welch puts in 100, then his staff is putting in 120 plus.

[kjpool]

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Good then you spend your money to support the program and leave the taxpayers money alone at least to the point where academics are funded FIRST!!!!!

$60,000 would be fine with me, so would $150,000 but not in the millions. How much does the Athletic Director make? What does he do to earn that money? Why does a public school need an athletic director?

Really Owl?!? 60,000 to equip 4 high schools that EACH field 11 sports/approx. 40 teams + 11 middle schools that field 4 sports/16 teams REALLY!!!

Perhaps you missed this part of my post but athletics brings in more revenue than any other single program ( way more than half in fact its probably closer to 70%) AND 0$ of it goes BACK to athletics it ALL goes directly to the classrooms of KISD...gee I wonder what would happen to your taxes if the district didn't have athletics to bring in those funds?

[jimbob]

I bet you are right. The head coach does spends a lot of time but the assistant coaches spend EVEN more. The naysayers on athletics and extracurriculars say money is being taken away from academics but that is the fartherest thing from the truth. The Athletes and all extra-curricular students bring in money (LOTS of it to the school districts). Those students are the highest in attendance of any group in school and as a taxpayer I support the schools having programs that connect kids to school. I recently read research where the dropout rate lowers, academic achievement increases and more monies are brought in to the district. Not just ticket sales (and yes all those moinies go to the general fund not athletic budgets) but average daily attendance. I saw in the article in the newspaper that monies in districts are derived from taxes and average daily attendance. So, I think it would be good to make sure all kids are connected to the school in some kind of program. REMEMBER, it is the programs like athletics, band, choir, etc that keeps kids active in school and that leads to a better education. It is not athletics vs. academics, it is All-Extracurriulars are partners to academics.

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If welch puts in 100, then his staff is putting in 120 plus.

[jimbob]

Understanding school finance will help people understand the value financially for having programs that get kids in school . Those kids are the highest in attendance all across the state, not just KISD. It is a fact, not opinion. The 3-4% that KISD spends on extracurricular activites is far more paid off with the daily attendance of those students. This is not opionion but fact. Instead of cutting funding for extracurriculars, many districts are looking for programs to add because the monies added to connect kids to schools bring in more financial dividends. That ole saying of extracurriculars takes money away from the classroom. Bull! It adds money. Again fact, not opinion..

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In Texas STUDENT/ATHLETES receive a pe credit and therefore a grade that DOES count toward their GPA....coaches (except for the campus coordinator who serves as admin) get stipends not salaries which are posted on the KISD website for anyone to see...if you take the number of days/hours that they work (before and afterschool practices/games/scouting/etc) just during their seasons I think (and this an "off the top of my head without actually doing the math" guess) those stipends might amount to roughly about $7-10/hr per sport if they are a head coach...less if they are an assistant.... just how much do you think should be spent on athletics per kid? $10, $20, $0? Well I'm going to guess that there are approximately 6,000 student athletes (high school and middle school) in KISD so $10 a kid is 60,000 dollars ...is that too much? A large district has to put money into the athletic program for it to function. Have you checked out how much one decent football helmet cost? (and yes it does have to be decent because if it sucks in quality it sucks in safety); I'm thinking it cost more than 10 bucks.... and how about the fact that in KISD at least (I have a VERY RELIABLE source on this) not ONE DIME of the revenue brought in by athletics goes directly BACK INTO athletics.. it ALL goes into the general fund that is then spread out to every other program the district has....AND there are plenty of studies out there that PROVE the correlations between extra curricular activities and academics particularly the affects of athletics on a campus culture/climate.....Students who participate in athletics tend to have higher grade-point averages, better attendance records, lower dropout rates and fewer discipline problems than
students generally.

http://instructional1.calstatela.edu...-Academics.pdf

Not to mention what it does to a kid's self esteem (especially for girls).... I could go on and on....athletics as an academic endeavor ABSOLOUTELY AGREE ROODAWG!