Is there such a thing as too much winning?
Perhaps not, but it does get expensive, as Jefferson High School overshot their activities budget by nearly $48,000 in the general fund, around $43,000 of which could be attributed to trips to state contests.
“It costs a lot to advance,” said newly retired JHS Athletic Director Dan Sturdevant, adding that during the 2021-22 school year there was an awful lot of advancing taking place. “With the girls’ basketball team taking second in State, golf winning State, the football team taking third, track teams sending a lot of kids to State and winning the boys title, volleyball taking second at State and boys basketball going to division, there were a lot of additional expenses, such as rooms, busses and meals.”
Money is always tight for sports and hard on the pocket as the teams advance and the school had to seek other options to come up with funds to cover the costs associated with victory, Sturdevant said. This included using $12,500 from their miscellaneous fund to cover additional athletic-related expenses.
According to JHS Business Manager Lorie Carey, the school did receive some reimbursement from the Montana High School Association for travel expenses that exceeded the school’s budgeted amount. While travel expenses operate through the general fund, the school deposits these reimbursements into a district miscellaneous fund. JHS did spend more for activities than they budgeted, Carey said, but they were able to cover the costs, thanks largely to the MHSA reimbursements.
All in all, Sturdevant said this is a good problem to have and he hopes the athletic success continues in the future.
“It was a fantastic year and it would be great if we could do it again next year,” he said.
While the school hopes to continue to see success, administration has taken steps to reduce overspending in the future.
On June 21, the JHS board of trustees approved a proposal to allocate funds gathered from selling advertising spots on the school’s new scoreboards, purchased with the school’s portion of the Montana Tunnels’ delinquent tax payment. The school will deposit money gathered from the scoreboard advertisements into the activities fund “as advertisers come in.”
Former JHS Superintendent Tim Norbeck informed the board that this was only a temporary solution to the activities’ deficit, but JHS Principal Mike Moodry proposed another initiative that would help solve the problem for several years: raising activities fees.
Moodry suggested that the school modify its single and multiple event fees to reflect those charged at other schools. The other schools in the division agreed to charge the same fee. With the board’s unanimous approval, attending a single event activity will now cost $7 for adults and $5 for students or senior citizens. The board also raised fees for tournaments and other events with multiple games or matches, to $10 for adults and $7 for students or senior citizens.
During the school board meeting, there was discussion about potentially raising the season pass fees for activities, as well; however, the board chose not to vote on this aspect pending further discussion and clarification. While Moodry told the board that the school charges $35 per year for sports attendance, the gate admission schedule provided to The Monitor by Carey shows $35 per sports season per high school student, with a maximum of $140 per family.
Discussion of activity fee season passes is not listed on the board’s July 19 agenda.
