The community already does a good job of pitching in, helping out and coming up with money for school sports activities. But rather than just doing it one sport, one event at a time, there is a proposal to reestablish a booster club for all school sports.
It’s been about 20 years since a booster club coordinated fundraising for youth athletics in Wrangell, and there are a lot of reasons why this is a good time to restart the effort.
State funding for education in Alaska is inadequate, made even worse when Gov. Mike Dunleavy this year vetoed half of the budget increase approved by legislators for school operating expenses. The borough contribution to the school district budget is at the maximum allowed under state law. Which means the district has what it has and no more — and it’s not enough to provide everything that Wrangell students deserve.
The district is trying to help cover the rising cost of travel to state tournaments by increasing the annual fee for students who participate in activities, but the small number of students and their families cannot alone handle the air fare and other expenses. The state travel fee, along with the regular activities fee, means a family with two students in the schools could pay about $1,000 in fees this year. That’s not small change.
The community has been great about contributing — whether cash or buying food at fundraising sales — when a Wrangell team needs to raise money for regional or state competition. No one wants to tell student athletes, sorry, you worked hard all year and won the right to go to state, but it’s too expensive.
The idea behind a booster club, named the Wrangell Athletic Club, is that it would “supplement what is already there and try to expand on offerings,” said high school cross country coach Mason Villarma, who is leading the effort. The club would support travel to tournaments and better gear, looking toward equitable funding allocations across all sports for elementary, middle and high school students.
The group will hold an organizational meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14, in the old gym.
The school year is less than a month old and already student athletes are at work, practicing and improving their skills, hoping to represent the community at a state championship tournament. The community can help by turning out for the booster club planning meeting.
No matter how hard it may seem to make time for an evening meeting, it’s a lot easier than what the student athletes are doing with their evenings — climbing hills, swimming laps and practicing as they build up a sweat.
— Wrangell Sentinel
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