Funding for travel among possible cuts

Earlier this month the Matanuska Susitna School Board proposed a list of potential cuts, many of which have a direct effect on activities and athletics. The cuts have been proposed with the intent of reversing a school district debt spiraling out of control.

Several of the proposed cuts leave the future of activities within the local schools in grave danger.

Among the cuts proposed by the board is the elimination of the prep activities director positions, elimination of stipends for all coaches at the elementary and middle school level and C-team programs for the high school level and the elimination of district funding of all transportation costs for school activities.

Houston activities director and head hockey coach Jamie Smith estimates the district will only save $200,000 to $300,000 by cutting transportation. Meanwhile, schools and booster clubs will have to pick up the bill for the school's travel costs.

Virtually every athletic program offered by the local schools was ensured multiple road trips per season. With the size of Alaska, many of the road trips are not only lengthy -- but costly. Local wrestling programs such as the Wasilla High School squad made two trips to the Kenai Peninsula and also visited Fairbanks and Kodiak. Wasilla activities director Doug Bean said the cost of sending the wrestlers to the Region III championship tournament in Kodiak cost more than $7,000 and just the bus rental to send the athletes to Fairbanks was approximately $1,200. Last year, local wrestling programs also traveled to Ketchikan for the state tournament. The programs also make frequent trips to Anchorage.

Local prep football squads generally have at least four road games per season. Palmer, Wasilla and Colony share the same conference as the Lathrop, North Pole and West Valley High Schools, It is not uncommon for the local 4A football squads to make two trips to Fairbanks per year. They also travel to the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage.

The Houston football team is in the same class as schools from all over the state. Last season the Hawks traveled to Fairbanks, Kodiak and the Kenai Peninsula twice.

There are also activities where the schedules are dominated by road events. With the lack of swimming pools that meet size regulations for prep competition in the Mat-Su Valley, the three local swim programs had just two combined home events on the 2003 schedule. The swim teams travel to Valdez, Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula to make up the remainder of the schedules.

With the lack of consistent snow in the Mat-Su Valley in recent history, local cross-country ski teams have had to travel -- long distances in many cases -- to compete in events. Last season the Colony cross-country ski team was on the road each weekend, hitting destinations such as Fairbanks, Valdez, Talkeetna and various spots on the Kenai Peninsula. Even when the squad could host an event it was at the King Mountain Lodge, a good hour north of Palmer.

To prepare for the possible cuts, schools have already begun to trim the schedules for last year, according to Wasilla assistant principal Dan Michael.

"We have tentative schedules, but we might not be able to sign contracts," Michael said. "We are trying to minimize the costs. No one is going to Juneau, and the Kodiak trips are kept to the barest of minimums."

Michael said for the first time in a number of years the Warrior hockey team will not make a trip to Fairbanks.

There is always the possibility of parents shuttling athletes to and from events, but there is a liability concern for the schools and the district.