The student-athletes of MCPS are only able to be gifted with uniforms and equipment because of the way the county budgets its sports. Yet, this budget is less than one percent of the county’s total budget for MCPS.
With a countywide total of 44 potential sports that schools can offer, there is a lot of room for students to contribute to a team at their respective schools.
“Schools use their own gate receipts [earnings from tickets sold at the sporting events] as well as booster club support, donations and fundraising to run their specific programs,” MCPS Director of Systemwide Athletics Dr. Jeffery Sullivan said.
With such a large county, it is hard for the athletic programs to all be funded by one central source, which is why booster clubs—a non-profit corporation run by staff and volunteer parents that donates half of its earnings to Athletics; half to Extracurricular Clubs and scholarships—and fundraising are so important. Certain schools may need to have more fundraisers than other schools because of how the budget is determined for each school.
“There is an allocation of funding that goes out to the schools centrally that assists with program basics and that [county] program uses a school size component as well as the average gate receipts a school has generated over the last three years to provide a scale of funding that schools get…. When parents, students and community members go to games across county schools, money is going directly to that school to administer their program and support their teams,” Sullivan said.
The tickets being sold at each MCPS school sports event provide money directly to the athletic program at the school, not just that one team. Additionally, teams can have fundraisers in order to raise money for their specific team.
Specific budgeting for these teams is not decided by the county, however.
“The sports-specific decisions at each school are managed by each school’s athletic director under the direction of the principal. Typically, a budget is done at the beginning of the year and the athletic director looks at needs and then creates the budget for that specific year,” Sullivan said. “Take uniforms, for instance. Most schools are going to have a uniform rotation. Typically that is an average four-year rotation so that each program is getting a new set of uniforms every four years.”
The organization of those funds seems to be working well, according to an MCPS high school swimming and diving coach who wishes to remain anonymous.
“I actually do feel I’m well-funded. I have always gotten everything I’ve ever needed from my athletic director. I think mine is very good at being equitable to all of our sports,” the swimming and diving coach said.
The core of everything done by Sullivan and his team is providing equity, or fairness and impartiality, for athletes. Sports equity and providing all athletes with equal opportunities across MCPS is the main job for Sullivan and his team.
“We want equitable opportunities and funding so that is something that is a point of emphasis for us and as we continue to evolve and move with our budget an equity lens is one that is extremely important for us,” Sullivan said.
Article by Jillian Ward of Walter Johnson High School
Graphic by Charles Wang of Walter Johnson High School