Klarinet Archive - Posting 001258.txt from 1998/04

From: "Jason Hsien" <jasonavhs@-----.com>
Subj: Re: budget cutbacks
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 19:50:22 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Morrow <jwmorro@-----.net>

| I do agree that the band is over looked when it is time to dish out the
|money. I live in a small town that does not have the big field. We don't
even
|have enough money to get bleachers for the school so the band can't hold
any
|marching competicions. The football team and the rest of the sport teams
get
|money, but we just got them to pay for our transportation(school busses)
for
|competitions. We have had the same uniforms for the past fifteen years
that we
|origonially bought from a secoundary school that used them for probably for
10
|years. During the marching band season I play the bass drum so I don't
wear
|them, but boy do they look bad besides the fact that they are tackey they
don't
|fit some of the members. So finally after years of fundraising we are
getting
|new uniforms(brand new) that the school has not donated one cent to and
that we
|raised $42,000 for. And you want to know what the football teams uniforms
|look like, they are new almost every year and payed for by the school. I
|really don't understand this whole thing, because we hardly get any money
from
|the school but we are the largest group(# of students) in the school! It
just
|is not fair:-(

A lot of people are going to kill me for this but I side with the school
decision to support more for the athletic department. After all, the
athletic department obviously is able to earn lots of money for the school.
On average, the public is more likely to support high school sports (we even
have 2-3 local television stations, one of them an NBC station, that shows
high school sports games, another unaffiliated one with one-hour broadcasts
of all sports, and then a local community channel) than high school music,
and therefore schools earn more money from sports, so they can spend more on
sports.

Further, most schools with athletic programs also have parent booster clubs,
just like the music programs. Which one obviously makes mroe money? The
sports.

Think about this logically. Sports have usually one or two "pay-to-enter"
sports games every week for the entire school year. Bands are lucky to even
have one pay-to-enter concert. Candy sales and Benefit Shopping Coupons
aren't big money makers either. The sports department has the money, and I
doubt the school budget really pays that much more than for music.

Also, on uniforms, you are being absolutely unfair. One good wool-made band
uniform can cost on the upwards of US$300-500. A football players' uniform,
as long as the athlete opts not to pay for it him or herself to get
personalized, can cost, maximum, $75-100, including all that thick padding.
Normally, football uniforms are nothing more than nylon, polyester, and
spandex. Band uniforms are much more complex, with custom embroidering, an
interior lining, etc...

But, I do agree that you should look into whether or not your school really
is paying a lot more for sports. It's more likely that they are spending the
same, it's just athletic boosters earn more.

-jason

   
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