No Money in Duval County for sports

[JaxRolo]

May not get to call HS games next year!!!!

Things are really, really bad if there is no money left for sports.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-03-12/story/no-...

For athletics in Duval County’s public schools, the end isn’t near.

It’s here.

No more Friday night football. No more sports of any kind.

That’s the harsh reality, according to Duval County School Board Chairman W.C. Gentry. Budget cuts proposed by Gov. Rick Scott make it a virtual certainty that the upcoming school year will be one without sports at any level, he said.

The Duval County School Board faces a $97 million shortfall. Gentry says that even with a substantial reduction in that figure, the days of the 51-year-old Gateway Conference are over.

This latest cut comes on the heels of three years of budget reductions.

“It’s a horrible situation,†Gentry said. “There’s no question we’ll have to do away with sports. We’re fighting just to preserve the accreditation of our schools. There’s no good news right now. We’ve been cutting for the last three years, so this isn’t a one-time hit. There simply isn’t anything left to cut that isn’t part of the core curriculum. It’s an ugly picture.â€

[dumbdumb]

Wow, and it is going to be hard to keep this thread open without getting into politics.

I will just say this.

We will not be getting the best of the best athlete any more, and no I am not talking race, creed or color here. Unfortunately I am talking money. Of course this will not stop Donald Trump's kids (if they were little again) from playing for a private club. Nor would Bill Gates kids (if he had any) have to worry. They could play in a private league also.

Guess no officials either, except in the private leagues.

Oh well.

The moderators can scrap this if to political.

Bottom line is that it is just a sad state of affairs.

[Wayne]

" teabaggers" Thanks.....checked in this morning to hear political b.s.

[JaxRolo]

I didn't mean this to be a Political Thread at all.

I was just posting so people could see that Duval County here in Jacksonville, Fl may not have sports next year. Hopefully it won't happen.

It really should not affect me to much. There are 2 HS Associations here in Jacksonville. Our association covers 7 different counties around Duval County and the "other" association covers Duval.

Duval is the biggest county. Like I said hopefully it won't happen at all. It might be a scare tactic to cut money in other places.

[yawetag]

I didn't mean this to be a Political Thread at all.

Then you should have left this out:

This is how the quality of life is affected when the teabaggers go for broke in cutting taxes and giving corporate breaks.

Posting information about the sports going away was okay. Adding your political slant wasn't.

[JaxRolo]

I didn't mean this to be a Political Thread at all.

Then you should have left this out:

This is how the quality of life is affected when the teabaggers go for broke in cutting taxes and giving corporate breaks.

Posting information about the sports going away was okay. Adding your political slant wasn't.

Sorry about that. I Cut and pasted the article and should have removed that. I am going to edit the OP and take it out.

Thanks

[LMSANS]

Around here, the schools have started the pay-for-play. They set a price & a minimum number of players. Mostly for the middle schools, but they are talking sub-varsity at some schools.

[mstaylor]

Thank you for the edit and this is a very unfortunate turn of events. My wife and I are county employees and I assure you I know belt tightening by the county.

[BigZigBlue]

It is a sad deal for the players....I know we dislike coaches as much as they dislike us BUT I am going to be a football coach when I finish with college. Jax what is the word on what they will do with the coaches? Will they be paid same amount of salary or have to take a cut since no sports are being played? I am interested in keeping up to date bout this in sense of possible job security for me.

[Fittske24]

I woul imagine that there would be some private schools that would still be having sports teams. You would more than likely see travel ball, AAU, USSSA, and select teams start earlier since there would be no HS season.

[JaxRolo]

I woul imagine that there would be some private schools that would still be having sports teams. You would more than likely see travel ball, AAU, USSSA, and select teams start earlier since there would be no HS season.

Yes there are a few private schools around. They are also talking about players paying to play at the public schools.

[mstaylor]

Paying to play has become very common.

[yawetag]

When I was in marching band in high school, I had to pay a yearly fee. My high school was one of three in the county, and the band received their "backing" once every three years. During the other years, all the money had to be raised from fund raisers and yearly fees. When I played baseball, we just did fund raisers; I don't know if the backing was the same setup or not.

[moblue]

It's unfortunate that athletics is facing a possible cut. However, I am glad that they are considering completely eliminating sports rather than trying to first cut what matters most in a school: academics. Too many schools' primary focus seems to be having the best possible athletics teams they can get, rather than producing the best possible students. While I hate it for the kids who won't have an opportunity to play sports, it does not bother me that a school district will not have sports as a distraction. Sorry if that seems a bit harsh. It's just my opinion on the matter.