High school sports are a reliable hot-button issue in any town’s local politics, and Portland’s consideration of reorganizing its sports booster groups is no exception.
Parents and supporters of specific sports teams are worried that school officials may take control of the money they’ve raised.
They worry this won’t leave enough for the intended causes and will make it harder to get people to make donations because they won’t know where the money is going.
A lot of people have worked very hard under the current rules and they see school board and superintendent involvement as meddling.
But the critics should cool off. The current system is not working as well as some seem to think it is, and a better organized booster group, with access to grant funding from foundations and businesses, could be an improvement all around.
The main problem with the current array of booster organizations is a lack of accountability. Tens of thousands of dollars are raised and spent by groups representing various sports teams at Portland and Deering high schools and there is often little record of the transactions.
This is not the fault of the booster groups as much is it is past administrations. The current system grew out of neglect, with parent volunteers taking on the responsibility to provide resources for teams that were not getting enough support from the schools. But regardless of where the money comes from, the schools are still held responsible for how it is spent..
This haphazard system may be creating legal problems for the district in regard to the law known as Title IX, which requires equal support for boys’ and girls’ sports. The problems don’t come from intentional discrimination but from a lack of coordination that results in uneven spending.
The proposal to create single sports booster organizations for each high school addresses both problems. Strict accounts would be kept and money would be distributed fairly. Better organization could lead to better citywide fundraising efforts, supporting sports while taking pressure off the city’s taxpayers.
Portland’s athletic boosters should resist the emotional response and look for ways to make a unified booster system work.
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