Transportation funds cut again!!

[jacjar1]

Recently many School districts have started to cut transportations costs again and schools can no longer afford to send marching bands (pep bands) to away football games.

Now for some thats a answer to years of prayer.....

Do you see this as Positive move or a who really cares?

[bari07]

thats odd. you would think that the school districts would want the band their or at least the school. if our school district cut funds our alumni association would pay for it.. because they are the only people that really care about us being there. lol. that and maybe the football team. But we also have to take buses from to our home games because our football field is disconnected from our school.

I think its a bad move though, since at away games it shows support for your football team and you also get to check out other bands shows that you may not get to see at competitions. And of course the fact that away football games are really fun to hang at, especially since you dont have to wear uniforms or anything like that.

[JLGORMAN]

What a Sad Commentary on School Finances. I am really sorry that this is what it is coming to out in CA. We Texans are very fortunate in that we do not have the school funding problems for transportation. However one big reason for this is that we are an energy independent State. Texas Oil provides enough Gas to keep our costs low. I took a busmens holiday tonight(we played on Thursday night) and saw two other schools Bands perform at a game, and you cannot imagine how boring it would be not to have both bands there. I am very sorry that this is taking place in the state I grew up in. CA may be a pacesetter in many areas, however in school financing and funding the Music programs, I am very happy we have not made the mistakes CA has. I can only hope that Band Boosters will be able to offset the costs for buses. What these people do not understand is that when you cut the buses for things like Band(and eventually sports) you will cut the participation of many students.

The Dallas Morning New Last week had a large article about High School Football and Bands in Texas. Based on records from the UIL, it was disclosed that over 160,000 kids play football in Texas High Schools, over 60,000 more than in CA, with twice the population. The Paper also stated that our spirit units(Bands, Drill Teams, Guard, Cheerleaders) have over 400,000 students participating each fall. CA is a distant 268,000. I have to wonder where the additional 132,000 students in CA are, and if they were in Band or Guard or drill team, they might not be on the Police Blotter. For those of you Band members, now is the time to insure that when you are old enough to vote, you make a strong stand for these activities, for those who will come after you. How many future leaders will be lost because these programs could not be funded. By the Way, High School Football is an $800 million dollar business in TEXAS and funds many other programs in our schools and also helps pass bond issues here.

[DanielE]

Recently many School districts have started to cut transportations costs again and schools can no longer afford to send marching bands (pep bands) to away football games.

Now for some thats a answer to years of prayer.....

Do you see this as Positive move or a who really cares?

Geez...it's the exact opposite for us....now we have to go to away football games....but our ASB is funding transportation......but I wish it stayed the same and ASB just gave us that money for our equipment......

Hey, I can dream.....

[JediMasterBando]

I am a senior, and we've never gone to play at away football games. Nor have we ever had an opposing team's band come to a game at our school... And as far as I know, it's been a long time since our band did go. So I guess what I'm saying is that it isn't a recent development with us, and we're used to it. In fact, many of the band students at my school look forward to away-game Fridays because we work so hard all the time that it's kind of nice to have a Friday night off once in a while. Another factor in our enthusiasm is most definitely the fact that our football team is not very good. Don't get me wrong, we yell and scream and participate with the cheerleaders as well as anybody at home games, but it would be a big downer to have to spend every Friday night watching your team (and in some cases, friends) lose by 20-40 points. I'm not a big football fan anyway (I actually prefer rugby, soccer, and hockey), so the games get kind of boring for me. And to answer your question about those 200,000+ students in California that don't play football or participate in band, guard, etc. JLGORMAN, I imagine they participate in the wealth of other opportunities California schools offer to their students.

My school has approximately 2500 hundred students. Last year, there were 45+ chartered clubs and organizations on campus, and 23 sports. Just because students aren't playing an instrument or throwing a football doens't mean they're not involved with something on campus.

As for financing, I don't believe that our band gets any funding from our school district at all. If we do, it is very minimal. Most of our revenue comes from fund-raising ourselves and the combined parade review and field band tournament that we host every October. We also have fairly high student assessments that must be payed to participate in band. Our school district can barely afford to bus the sports teams to their various games, much less pay for our entire 250+ band and guard unit to get to away football games.

[JLGORMAN]

I found the comments by the MC Senior to be sort of sad. Sad, because he had the opinion that the School District did not fund his Band. Please tell me then who pays for the following.
1. Salary of Band Director?
2. Upkeep of Band Room and cost of Electricity for Practice Field useage.?
3. Initial costs of starting up the program. After all there was no booster club around when the Band was first organized and equipped.

If the school district does not fund any of these things, then by all means you owe them nothing. If however, you are supported(probably not the way you should be I agree) then what do you owe those who support you?.

By the way, I read on about all your activities, sorry, that is no great accomplishment to have 43 chartered clubs, with an enrollment of 2500 you should have that many and 23 sports you have us there, because we only have 18 sports academically recognized in Texas. But the final question still asked is this, when one activity is cut it will eventually effect them all. We have seen what has happened in CA and we do not want to follow the same path.

[BlueStarMom]

At JW North we are fortunate that our "Pep" band gets a bus to the away games. I do remember one time the band did not go to an away game as that weeked they were at Bands of America regional in Las Vegas.

[JediMasterBando]

JLGORMAN wrote:

If the school district does not fund any of these things, then by all means you owe them nothing. If however, you are supported(probably not the way you should be I agree) then what do you owe those who support you?.

By the way, I read on about all your activities, sorry, that is no great accomplishment to have 43 chartered clubs, with an enrollment of 2500 you should have that many and 23 sports you have us there, because we only have 18 sports academically recognized in Texas. But the final question still asked is this, when one activity is cut it will eventually effect them all. We have seen what has happened in CA and we do not want to follow the same path

You have made some very good points that I overlooked. Yes, the district pays the salary of our band director. As far as I know, however, it is a teacher's salary based on the number of classes he teaches each semester. He does not get extra money for going to football games or band tournaments, which are often all day events. When I said the band in my previous comments, I meant the marching band, the "unit" that competes and performs at football games. We don't get money from the district for busses to go anywhere, much less away football games. The lights are on for us once a week for about 3 1/2 hours. That is really why I said "minimal funding". As for band room upkeep, I don't think the school district would want to claim responsibility for the current state of our band room.

That being said, I am grateful for the fact that our school district helped the band get started 30 years ago, and I certainly don't blame the district for the lack of money now. It is the result of years of people deciding that money in their pockets is worth more than the education of the future. It is because of the bad decisions made by state legislators. Before this past school year, we had to raise (with the help of the band boosters and other bands in our district) about $500,000 to keep the 5th Grade music program going, which our district was going to cut becase of lack of funding. We were able to do it, although the program has only 2/3 the number of teachers it did before.

The point I was trying to make when I talked about our school clubs and sports was that just because the number of students in Texas who participate in band and football aren't the same as in California, doesn't mean that, in general, Californian students are less involved. You implied that the differential of students were those who end up committing crimes. I was simply stating that perhaps a portion of those students are interested in other things than football and band. You said yourself that we have more recognized sports than Texas does.

In all other ways, I agree with you completely. I hope what is happening in California never gets to any other state in our country. Unfortunately, bad decision-making already occurs in at least one other state. When I lived in western Florida, teachers had to ask parents to donate school supplies, and schools couldn't afford to start instructing students on musical instruments until 6th grade. Of course, once you got to the high school level, there was somehow enough money to bus the marching band to away football games. I guess those school districts thought it was a fair trade.

[eternalbando]

I can understand the feeling that the school district doesn't support your band, because I find myself thinking that sometimes about our band. I knowt hey do support us, but sometimes it seems like we're put at last priority. One morning, we ended up marching on a field that was lined with soccer lines for a NON school team, and the field was also basically a marsh. Also, they've been saying they would build a new performing arts center for the band, orchestra, and choir since I was a freshman(I'm now a senior), but they haven't even set a date to start it. they were scheduled to extend the band room over the summer, but they didn't. All over school there is construction going on, yet none of it was for the band, OR any other art(visual or performing) at our school. Yet part of their construction involves the girls locker room...that's been a big deal for the colorguard, because since there isn't a locker room, they have to change in a portable that's being used as a "make-shift" locker room...trust me, even from the outside I can tell that it must be cramped in there. I know have a lot to be grateful for in my school district, but at times, I wish they would pay a little more attention to us...