Athletic director duties will be reassigned and “C” teams will be eliminated in the latest round of Renton School District budget cuts, the fourth straight year of budget reductions for the district.
“We are committed to arts and sports and other extracurricular activities,” said district spokesperson Randy Matheson. “But when you get to a point when you have to cut five and a half million and you don’t want to cut teachers, you have to look somewhere.”
Matheson said the district has made cuts in administrative offices, custodian services and other non-classroom jobs in recent years, but those support staffs are already “down to the bare bones.”
While Matheson didn’t have a count of the number of “C” team athletes in the district, he said most of the effect will be felt in football since that is the program that usually always has enough players for a “C” team.
“The cost to provide all three levels (“C” team, junior varsity and varsity) is something we had to consider in our budget process,” he said. “As routine as it sounds, we have to continuously look at how we can fund education.”
The total budget cuts are $5.3 million, $410,000 of which comes from program eliminations like the “C” teams. Other cuts in that category are 5th-grad band/orchestra and secondary athletic coordinators.
Matheson said the loss of coordinators means duties will be reassigned, but positions will not be lost. The duties of athletic directors and coordinators will go back to vice principals and principals.
There hasn’t been much backlash about the “C” team eliminations yet, Matheson has received just one email asking to reconsider and no one has voiced concern about the topic at school board meetings. Matheson said it could be because students and parents haven’t found out about the cuts yet.
“I would suspect that some kids coming into high school next year, it might surprise them,” he said. “Just because I don’t think they’re necessarily paying attention to school board moves. As we get closer to the school year we might hear more.”
The full news release is below.
