The beginning of the school year marks the start of many fall sports but also the need for funding. Although labeled as donations, some donations aren’t as optional as they would suggest.
Mandatory donations and activities include required fundraising. For instance, when fundraising, families may pay for unsold items, like extra shirts. Funding is used in purchasing equipment that make sports games possible.
In 2012, Governor Jerry Brown signed Bill AB 1575 on the similar topic of mandatory school supply fees. It prohibited schools from making students pay for their P.E. uniforms, textbooks, and extracurricular activities. Aragon’s Fair Share Program funds a significant portion of the academic expenses. The Aragon Excellence Fund also does similar fundraising, both of which don’t require families to donate.
The Aragon athletics program is funded by three main sources: the school district, athletic boosters and the Aragon Dons Foundation. The Aragon Dons Foundation was originally founded to raise money to build Aragon’s turf field and track, but now helps provide funds for the athletic program.
The term “mandatory donation” may be a misconception. According to athletic director Steve Sell, funds are needed to pay for athletic gear, but Aragon does not require families to donate to Aragon’s athletic program.
“We don’t have mandatory donations,” Sell said. “Our district funds all the essential items; like balls and uniforms are essential items. And for all the other items, that’s where the booster steps in. Everything that the district does not pay for, we fund. And we are very lucky that our district funds all the essential items.”
However, mandatory donations vary between sports.
Senior Noah Beaumont has experienced mandatory donations at Aragon.
“During both sport seasons, my mom [was] forced to make a check out to Aragon or a donation so that I could receive my uniform to play on the team. I do not think this is fair because the fee is basically a fee to “borrow” a uniform, but when the uniform is returned,the fee is not,” he said.
Dance team coach Olivia Reidy said in addition to fundraising, dancers were asked to purchase certain items of clothing after they agreed.
“[The team] did the fundraiser for jerseys. They paid about 72 dollars for their jerseys but they did buy their own shoes,” Reidy said. “However, they wanted those shoes, and they agreed that it was going to be okay. And then we’re doing another fundraiser to get pants for basketball season.”
For dance team, mandatory donations may differ because dance team is not long considered a sport.
“Remembering back to freshman year, we were given the option of using the uniforms that the district provided, but our team didn’t want that so we volunteered to buy our own stuff. . . And the next couple years, we just stopped using the district funded stuff,” senior dance team member Kayla Tai said.
One alternative to asking families to donate is to hold fundraisers, which many Aragon sports do.
“This year we had a bake sale over the summer to raise money to buy our uniforms because no one really provides us with anything,” said senior dance team member Linnea Lynn. “So we had two bake sales and raised enough money to get jerseys. We got half off on our jerseys because we raised enough money to pay for half of them.”
Aragon being a public school, the dilemma is brought up if the role of fundraising belongs to the school or the athletes.
“I think that it’s definitely [both the schools and the athletes’ responsibility]. . .I think that it’s also the school’s responsibility to provide their own teams with the right equipment or uniforms that they need,” said Lynn.
Junior Philip Yuan has experienced optional donations.
“The coach will make an announcement two encourage people to go buy snacks to support the school. We are asked to buy things or make donations up front,” Yuan said.
However, Yuan believed this to be a reasonable request.
“I don’t think that it’s wrong,” he said. “The athletes are trained by the coaches every single day to excel at their own sport, so I feel like giving donations to support the team is the least the athletes can do.”
“I feel like giving donations to support the team is the least the athletes can do”
Although donations may be stressed in some sports, it’s important to note that finances should not deter a student from participating.
“If there is ever a student that can’t afford a uniform then we would make sure that they are on the team anyway,” said Reidy. “We don’t want finances to be an issue to be able to dance, because everyone gets to dance. There’s no question about that.”
