SPAC: Pay coaches more, don't add teams
 

Thursday, July 6, 2006

By CANDY BROOKS
ThisWeek Staff Writer

The additional money to be spent on athletics next year should go toward increasing the pay of coaches, not toward adding teams.

That is one of the primary recommendations of a committee that recently completed a study of the athletic and other co-curricular programs in the Worthington Schools.

The report of the Supplemental Program Advisory Committee (SPAC) was presented to the Worthington Board of Education at a special retreat in June.

The board is scheduled to vote on the recommendations regarding pay for fall coaches on July 24, then spend more time reviewing the recommendations.

The board overturned one of the recommendations before the ink dried on the report. After parents and students complained about the recommended elimination of the middle school gymnastics program at a June 12 meeting, the board instructed SPAC to reinstate the program in its recommendations.

The report also does not recommend the addition of middle school baseball and softball.

Parents have been asking the board for those programs for many years, but SPAC co-chair James McElligott said the committee decided to not recommend they be started in the schools because community groups provide baseball opportunities for middle school aged students.

Board members said they continue to receive requests for middle school baseball, and indicated it would be discussed at a future board meeting.

Beginning in the fall, the district will have 150 additional compensation units to allocate among activities and athletics in the district.

The cost of those units is between $100,000 and $150,000, according to administrators' estimates at the June retreat.

The additional funding of coaches was part of the bargaining agreement between the school board and Worthington Education Association last fall.

SPAC was made up of five members of the administration and five of the teachers' union.

Its duties were to review allocation of compensation units, maintaining the current ratio of athletic to non-athletic units; review removal or addition of programs; evaluate program merit; review measures to increase economy and efficiency of programs; and review measures to increase program revenues.

One of the charges of the WEA was that the committee specifically target increasing compensation for assistant and middle school coaches as a way to attract and maintain more staff members as coaches.

Of the head coaching positions at the high school level, only 27, or 46.5 percent, are teaching in the respective building.

Of the assistant level coaches at the high schools, only 17 percent of the positions are filled by teachers in the buildings.

At the middle school level, "less than a handful" of coaches teach in the schools, according to the report.

Overall, the additional 150 units of pay that will be added this year will not be enough to make Worthington competitive with surrounding districts, but it is an improvement, according to the report.

It would take 360 units to bring supplemental positions to the average pay in the Ohio Capital Conference, according to the SPAC report.

Other conclusions and recommendations of the report:

 

  • Booster organizations interested in supplementing program staff should be allowed the opportunity to make a donation to the district, earmarked for funding a coaching or advising position.

     

  • Funding for weight-training technicians at the weight rooms at both high schools should be funded from the general fund, not taken from the athletic fund.

     

  • Because of finances, competition from other districts, and declining enrollment, Worthington can no longer exist under the assumption of 1988 -- "if students want it...we will provide it."

     

  • With declining enrollment at the middle school, some programs will be reduced and/or combined, depending upon number of students participating and whether the sport is offered by private vendors.

     

  • To increase revenues, the district should consider using more advertising on stadiums and scoreboards; establishing an alumni association; eliminating the ban on gambling, so that activities such as bingo and casino nights can be held; hiring a development director to develop financial resources.

    "The committee believes we must take bold steps to ensure the success of the co-curricular program," the report concludes.