Can someone explain why teen kids need to fundraise $1,000 for a public school sport?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Districts don't fully fund sports. Even FCPS high schools have booster clubs to make up the difference

Can you please define why you mean by this. I really have no idea. Where exactly is the booster money going? What happens if they didn’t raise the money? This sounds like extras, like it goes towards an end of season party and personalized gear? I can’t imagine a season being cancelled because the soccer or swim team didn’t raise enough money.

Uniforms and equipment are the biggest expenses for our school's lacrosse team

If a school is rich enough to have a lacrosse team, let them budget for uniforms, for pete's sake.

Right. Can’t “afford” a cheap sport but can afford a roster of six figure salary do-nothings, who all take a half dozen taxpayer funded trips to “conferences” every school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School funding for extra curricular has been cut significantly in the past decade. Some won’t even replace uniforms if some are lost and there is no longer a full set. Buses are terribly expensive right how. If a team wants to do things like play out of conference schools (like a scrimmage against a private school), the team will have to pay for the bus and possibly also the ref. It can add up very quickly.

This. Boomers cut everything from the budget and now complain when they get fundraising requests.

No. The current school bureaucrats all loot the bloated budgets and figure they can bend over the sports obsessed parents to come out of pocket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder about that too, HS sports players and even the band members knock on doors asking for money in Mclean. The parents can't bankroll them?

The problem is even if the parents can-and are willing to, the coaches still want them out there soliciting more more more.
From what I can tell, there is absolutely no accountability on where this money is going, either-at least not in my kid's team.

+1

+2 My kid’s HS spring sport requires each kid to deliver 25 emails or phone numbers to use for soliciting $. UMC large suburban public school. We are happy to donate our share directly but they still need these 25 contacts apparently. We are using family and friends and just telling them we have it covered (we do), they need not donate. A few close family will anyway I am sure. The whole thing is annoying TBH.

There is zero change I'm giving out 25 phone numbers or emails. That's so disrespectful.

Different poster here.
Our team had this fund raiser too. We made up fake contacts. Created fake email addresses. It seems extreme to go to that extent but we REALLY didn't want our friends and family to be harassed, and the pressure to come up with these contacts was intense. Truly unreal.

[Anonymous]

Our team has a $250 goal, and we attend probably one of the highest SES schools in the country.

Instead of asking family we just write a check.

It goes towards extras like uniforms more often, swag at the end of season banquet (where every kid gets something like a water bottle and hoodie) and covers some additional expenses for food and team events. A bunch goes back to the booster club.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in an affluent school area in NY. The district paid for everything for everyone - buses, uniforms, equipment, etc. I never had to fundraise for any event, and I don’t recall ever seeing one for others. There was no such thing as a club sport. We also never paid for non-sports activities. The only thing I ever recall is having to pay something for was the events where students went away for long periods of time, like the choir trip to Canada or the field study week upstate. And even then there were notes saying “if there’s an issue with funding, reach out to the school”. I’m still horrified down here how much I’m expected to pay for out of pocket in a highly funded district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our team has a $250 goal, and we attend probably one of the highest SES schools in the country.

Instead of asking family we just write a check.

It goes towards extras like uniforms more often, swag at the end of season banquet (where every kid gets something like a water bottle and hoodie) and covers some additional expenses for food and team events. A bunch goes back to the booster club.

I wish our school/sport did it like that.
For us, the coach refuses to state a monetary goal per player. He requires every player to give 25 contacts. It doesn't matter how much your parent/main donor gives--you still have to give all 25 contacts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our team has a $250 goal, and we attend probably one of the highest SES schools in the country.

Instead of asking family we just write a check.

It goes towards extras like uniforms more often, swag at the end of season banquet (where every kid gets something like a water bottle and hoodie) and covers some additional expenses for food and team events. A bunch goes back to the booster club.

I wish our school/sport did it like that.
For us, the coach refuses to state a monetary goal per player. He requires every player to give 25 contacts. It doesn't matter how much your parent/main donor gives--you still have to give all 25 contacts.

+1 same at ours

I just want to write a check in full, takes 1min and done. School gets their $. But no. They want us to sit down and look up 25 of our friends and family to harass. Embarrassing.

[Anonymous]

I dont donate to fundraisers of any kind unless it states what percentage of the funds is going towards what items. For example, we need to raise
$100 per person to cover new uniforms and bus travel.

Our PTA does this ALL the flarping time and I keep telling them you cant keep asking people for money and not show how it is being used. People are more willing to donate money if they know there is a specific plan and accountability. Telling people the goal is 5k for Read-A-Thon isnt helpful. WHAT is the 5k for! And I dont want some generic answer about PTA resources. Say 50% will be used to supplement grade-level field trips and 40% will be used for X and 10% used to teacher appreciation. And then distribute an EOY fundraising total and where it went. People want to know their money isnt going into some black hole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dont donate to fundraisers of any kind unless it states what percentage of the funds is going towards what items. For example, we need to raise
$100 per person to cover new uniforms and bus travel.

Our PTA does this ALL the flarping time and I keep telling them you cant keep asking people for money and not show how it is being used. People are more willing to donate money if they know there is a specific plan and accountability. Telling people the goal is 5k for Read-A-Thon isnt helpful. WHAT is the 5k for! And I dont want some generic answer about PTA resources. Say 50% will be used to supplement grade-level field trips and 40% will be used for X and 10% used to teacher appreciation. And then distribute an EOY fundraising total and where it went. People want to know their money isnt going into some black hole.

I 100% agree.
And then the sport/organization can even post on social media a photo of the team using the equipment/uniforms/traveling on the bus to a tournament, etc. and say "Thanks to our wonderful donors, we were able to buy XYZ!" People will see that their donations actually made something happen.

Just please understand it's not up to the kids. I see throughout this thread, and other places, people calling the kids "lazy" "spoiled" "brats" etc. because they aren't fundraising by washing cars or knocking on doors selling candy bars. The coaches decide how to fundraise and make demands, harrass, and shame the kids into complying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School funding for extra curricular has been cut significantly in the past decade. Some won’t even replace uniforms if some are lost and there is no longer a full set. Buses are terribly expensive right how. If a team wants to do things like play out of conference schools (like a scrimmage against a private school), the team will have to pay for the bus and possibly also the ref. It can add up very quickly.

School districts are swimming in cash. Where is it all going? Do you sporty parents not care that you're being ripped off by the crooks running your district? Interesting how Type A alpha you all are at sports events and when bragging about your kids athletic prowess but you're passive doves when it comes to school district brass fleecing you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dont donate to fundraisers of any kind unless it states what percentage of the funds is going towards what items. For example, we need to raise
$100 per person to cover new uniforms and bus travel.

Our PTA does this ALL the flarping time and I keep telling them you cant keep asking people for money and not show how it is being used. People are more willing to donate money if they know there is a specific plan and accountability. Telling people the goal is 5k for Read-A-Thon isnt helpful. WHAT is the 5k for! And I dont want some generic answer about PTA resources. Say 50% will be used to supplement grade-level field trips and 40% will be used for X and 10% used to teacher appreciation. And then distribute an EOY fundraising total and where it went. People want to know their money isnt going into some black hole.

I 100% agree.
And then the sport/organization can even post on social media a photo of the team using the equipment/uniforms/traveling on the bus to a tournament, etc. and say "Thanks to our wonderful donors, we were able to buy XYZ!" People will see that their donations actually made something happen.

Just please understand it's not up to the kids. I see throughout this thread, and other places, people calling the kids "lazy" "spoiled" "brats" etc. because they aren't fundraising by washing cars or knocking on doors selling candy bars. The coaches decide how to fundraise and make demands, harrass, and shame the kids into complying.

+1

I totally understand the annoyance but please don’t blame the kids or even the parents. It isn’t a choice- the kids are basically forced to do this as a condition of being on the team. The players and parents have zero say in how fundraising is done and are forced to participate regardless

[Anonymous]

I run the budget of a varsity level huge sports team at a Fairfax county high school.

We only get about half our money from the boosters. The rest we have to raise from parents.

The most expensive thing by far is buses to events. Bus costs have doubled since the pandemic.

Parents are unbelievably cheap and I can’t stand how annoying it is for asking them for a couple of hundred dollars a season. I’m not talking about a poor community here we’re talking McLean Langley, great falls.

Parents are like “I pay taxes why doesn’t it go to my kids uniform or the bus fees.” We are getting some of those fees from taxes, it’s just not enough. Do you want some of the kids not to be able to play? That’s the alternative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I run the budget of a varsity level huge sports team at a Fairfax county high school.

We only get about half our money from the boosters. The rest we have to raise from parents.

The most expensive thing by far is buses to events. Bus costs have doubled since the pandemic.

Parents are unbelievably cheap and I can’t stand how annoying it is for asking them for a couple of hundred dollars a season. I’m not talking about a poor community here we’re talking McLean Langley, great falls.

Parents are like “I pay taxes why doesn’t it go to my kids uniform or the bus fees.” We are getting some of those fees from taxes, it’s just not enough. Do you want some of the kids not to be able to play? That’s the alternative.

Parents are right and should be ticked off! It costs years of sacrifice and big bucks to live in prime districts and the stunning sums of tax revenue just seems to vanish. Then the school brass strong-arm parents for even more; coercion if our kids want to do any ECs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I run the budget of a varsity level huge sports team at a Fairfax county high school.

We only get about half our money from the boosters. The rest we have to raise from parents.

The most expensive thing by far is buses to events. Bus costs have doubled since the pandemic.

Parents are unbelievably cheap and I can’t stand how annoying it is for asking them for a couple of hundred dollars a season. I’m not talking about a poor community here we’re talking McLean Langley, great falls.

Parents are like “I pay taxes why doesn’t it go to my kids uniform or the bus fees.” We are getting some of those fees from taxes, it’s just not enough. Do you want some of the kids not to be able to play? That’s the alternative.

Parents are right and should be ticked off! It costs years of sacrifice and big bucks to live in prime districts and the stunning sums of tax revenue just seems to vanish. Then the school brass strong-arm parents for even more; coercion if our kids want to do any ECs.

Lol
You're not good at math, are you? Have you ever considered that your district is a "prime" district because they prioritize non-sports school spending. Money isn't unlimited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our team has a $250 goal, and we attend probably one of the highest SES schools in the country.

Instead of asking family we just write a check.

It goes towards extras like uniforms more often, swag at the end of season banquet (where every kid gets something like a water bottle and hoodie) and covers some additional expenses for food and team events. A bunch goes back to the booster club.

+1. We just donate the player goal ($500) and never send any emails. When the parent booster asks why, my kid says his parents will donate and he’s not asking family to pay for his sports.