FHS is home to 15 sports, all of which require equipment and jerseys to play. Although athletic funding may seem simple, many components come together to fund school sports.
The funding FHS receives from FUHSD, along with the money raised from football games, make up the bulk of funding for the athletic program at FHS. A significant cost for the football team is busing players to and from games, which is covered by district funding. As a result, the money that FHS saves from not directly paying for football busing can be redistributed for funding other FHS sports.
“[If busing costs were not covered by FUHSD], football would probably want to use game funds to pay for bussing so they can get to their games,” FHS Athletic Director Daniel McCune said. “Then the rest of us, our teams would be completely underfunded, [although] some of them [still] are now.”
McCune noted that teams that want buses are able to get them if they provide the money, and explained that buses are available to everyone; it is just a matter of financing the high cost. Many feel that it is unfair that the football team receives funding for buses to away games, however, the football buses are covered by the district, not FHS.
“And knowing that we both have to be there at the same time to warm up at the same time and still stay there for the same duration, it’s really unfair,” FHS sophomore and cheerleader Anahita Dabestani said.
Dabestani believes that it is not fair for football players to get bused to away games especially because cheer always goes to the same location at the same time.
McCune refuted this, explaining that the reason the football team gets the most funding is that it is also responsible for raising the most money for the school; football games have the highest attendance out of all FHS sports, meaning they also sell the most tickets.
In order to raise athletic funds, McCune has been working on some ideas to boost the funding. On the FHS website, there is now a webstore where people can make donations to athletics. Alongside those, McCune has been creating social media accounts to try to raise awareness for sports. He hopes his goals of funding for the athletic program will one day be fulfilled.
“So those are all the little things that we’ve done so far,” McCune said. “I’m sure bigger things will be coming as well.”
