White County Schools Gathering Olympic Budgets

Efforts by White County School officials to pick up the tab for the system’s Olympic sports continue.

Director Of Schools Kurt Dronebarger asked the school board for permission to explore ways to limit fundraising by the county’s non-revenue sports. Dronebarger said school bus signage could help those teams refocus on the field.

“We want to utilize some of the funds that the board already contributes and supplement that with some advertising dollars,” Dronebarger said. “I think putting those things together, we’re going to greatly reduce the number of fundraisers that individual teams have to do.”

Dronebarger said his team has gathered the budgets from athletic directors at the middle and high schools. A former coach himself, Dronebarger said

“It’s just gotten to the point where too many kids are paying to play, so to speak,” Dronebarger said. “We want kids to be able to go out and play, we want our coaches to be able to coach, not worry about the dollars.”

Dronebarger said the economic downturn at the start of the decade shifted too much of the athletic costs to parents. Transportation costs stand among the highest costs the sports programs must fill, from gas to drivers.

The budget summary has also provided a chance to look at sports costs, Dronebarger said, to see if some different choices could be made to save money.

“Do we need new different jerseys every single year?” Dronebarger said.

Though total dollar figures are not yet finished, Dronebarger said he believes the number will be one that the school system can meet.