To play, or not to play?

The Moses Lake School District sits on the eve of another levy vote, with sports a main issue

Ninety-two percent.

That is the amount the Maintenance and Operation levy provides to the sports budget every year. Zero is the amount the state provides for co-curricular activities like sports, Science Olympiad, choir and other events.

The Moses Lake School District is facing a possible double levy failure and with that, possible program cuts at all levels, including the varsity sports programs at the Moses Lake High School.

Monte Redal, assistant superintendent of business and operations, and P.J. De Benedetti, special assistant to the superintendent, believe the second attempt to pass the levy will be a success. Meanwhile, Moses Lake athletics director Loren Sandhop believes the levy will pass, but added that the idea of a possible levy failure still weighs heavily on his mind.

Both parties agree there is a possibility that in the event of a levy failure, some cuts will have to be made. In 1997, the Yakima School District faced a double levy failure and with that, a diminishing sports program.

"It had an impact on a lot of things," said deputy superintendent Jack Irion of the Yakima School District. "There was an increase in juvenile crime and we went to a certain number of teams comparable to the other schools in the Big Nine, to no teams comparable. The elimination of middle school sports had a tremendous affect."

Yakima went from a $9 million budget to zero for the following year and in the process had to make some changes. Yakima introduced the pay-to-play system, requiring a $100 payment from each athlete in the first year, then, the following year, the school passed a $7 million levy and dropped the pay-to-play rate to $25 per athlete.

Sandhop said his greatest fear is going to the pay-to-play system, especially with the economic status of Moses Lake. Based on the free-to-reduced lunch system, over 50 percent of students in the school district are on that program, Sandhop said.

Sandhop said implementing the pay-to-play system at Moses Lake would become a burden to lowincome families, but also fail at lifting the financial burden needed to fill in the lost funding.

The current sports program budget for the Moses Lake High School sits at over $914,000 for the 2003-04 school year, based on current levy money and Associated Student Body funds generated from year to year.

The amount retrieved from students on the pay-to-play system would total $42,000, about five percent of the current budget.

"Why would you impose a pay-to-play when it is a drop in the bucket," Sandhop added.

Based on 2002-03 records, Moses Lake had 1,742 participants in co-curricular activities. This year, based on accomplishments during the Fall and Winter seasons, the boys sports programs are currently first in the Big Nine in overall performance with 32 points, followed by the largest school in the Big Nine, Pasco, with over 2,600 students. Eisenhower is fourth on the list and Davis is ninth.

On the girls side, Eisenhower is first in the league, Moses Lake is eighth and Davis ninth in overall production in the Winter and Fall seasons.

"I guess that is my biggest fear, if we have to go to pay-to-play, we are going to lose some of our participation rates," Sandhop added.

Sandhop believes the sports program is a continuation of the classroom and the coaches teach worthwhile skills to kids in preparation for the real world.

"We don't say, we hope you graduate from Moses Lake with a state title because that is going to make you more marketable in the job market," Sandhop added. "You are going to learn discipline, time management, responsibility, work ethic and win, lose or draw, those are the things we want our kids to learn."

The majority of the sports program budget goes to the coaches responsible for teaching "social interaction," followed by transportation, which makes up a third of the budget.

Sandhop said that transportation is a set category every year due to the schedule of Big Nine athletics, but budget cuts have to come from somewhere. Coaches salaries are the main issue.

Each coach at Moses Lake makes around $2,000 to $4,000 for their sport, a small fee compared to the time they put in, Sandhop added.

The other possibility in the midst of a levy failure is sports programs at different levels. The first to go would be the middle school programs, followed by every program until the varsity programs are left.

"I don't think we will keep most and it would come down to probably just varsity. Even with that, we would have to sacrifice," Redal said. "What we would try to do is maintain varsity level sports and it may not be every varsity sport."

The school district will have funds available from the old levy to spread out over the 2004-05 school year. But, guarantees on what stays and goes depends on available funding and following state guidelines like the Big Nine Conference, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association and Title IX, the federal government standard for all institutions receiving government funding.

Title IX dictates what programs from the boys and girls programs will be cut, while maintaining a balance in both the boys and girls programs.

"People are excited about athletics," Irion said. "We made cuts in the art program, cuts in teaching positions and the list goes on. It is devastating to go through a levy loss."

Irion said Yakima stills feels the devastation a double levy loss imposed on its school program. The last levy vote missed the required 60 percent by half a percentage point and according to Redal, the information the school district has received, it should pass on its second attempt.

"We are focusing on that end of it, even though everyone wants to know what teaching cuts we will make and what will happen to athletics," Redal added.