San Jose School District Cuts All Sports Programs, Angry Protest Ensues

The East Side Union School District of San Jose, California -- a district with 11 high schools -- is in deep financial trouble. They must submit a balanced budget to the state by Monday, and they are worried about a drastic deficit for the 2010 and 2011 school years. Thus, they did what any business would have to do: made budget cuts.

Teachers and other personnel were hit up for $3.5 million, $1.9 million will come from administration, and $3.1 million will be cut from support staff. No specific details, but I'm guessing there are massive layoffs included. So a bunch of people are going to lose their jobs.

So it makes sense that an angry mob would appear at the latest school board meeting. Only they didn't care about anything I listed above. Nope, $2.1 million will be eliminated from the sports programs -- which includes totally cutting out football, basketball, and soccer, among other sports.

"Shame on you and the people who are responsible for even bringing this up tonight," said Jeff Borges, a coach at Andrew Hill High, before a standing-room-only crowd that filled the board room and spilled into the lobby. "You say $2 million in sports, I say get rid of an administrator at each school and the problem is solved."

Look, I don't know anything about the specifics, but they are cutting more money from the budget to eliminate teachers and administrators than they are to abort sports.

Personally, I'm very torn in this situation. As someone who only attended classes to remain eligible for baseball and football -- and wouldn't you know it, I received enough education to become a blogger! -- I feel the pain of these students. These are 15- and 16-year-old kids who have had the most important thing in their young lives taken away. I don't even know how I would have reacted, but it would have been a ton worse than this quote from 15-year-old basketball player Megan Gage:

"Sports is an important part of my life. Sports are not just an incentive, they are a necessity. If you take away sports with our teachers, what do we have left?"

On the other hand, as someone who has student-taught before, I don't think the adults are acting the way they should. The bottom line is that schools are in place to educate kids, not to simply house them during the day as a segue to their extracurriculars once the bell rings. The school system is cutting $8.5 million from education-related budget and $2.1 from sports. If anything, I could see the non-athletes being a little aggravated about the special attention sports receive.

Overall, it's a bad situation with no right answer. I learned more about teamwork and loyalty on my football team than I could have ever learned in any collegiate class. Sports are a great exercise in growing up for all scholar athletes, but aren't they still a luxury?

I wouldn't have thought so 12 years ago, nor am I sure I'll think so in 14 years if my son's baseball team gets cut from the budget.

Let's just hope something gets worked out for these kids, and here's an idea.

The San Jose Earthquakes and the Oakland Athletics, meanwhile, have announced that they will work with the district to help raise money to save the sports programs.

So maybe somehow they get their education and continue competing in sports? That would be the best of both worlds.

Hat Tip: Deadspin