“Despite the fact that M-A is the largest school in the district with the greatest number of kids participating in sports, we get the exact same amount of money from the District as every other school, and that amount ranges from year to year,” M-A Athletic Boosters President Janelle McCombs said.
M-A Athletic Boosters is one of many nonprofit organizations working to bridge the gap between the funds that the District provides—which range from $50,000 to $80,000—with what the athletic department needs, which is closer to $300,000.
“Losekoot is incredibly supportive of students, so he tries to give additional money from his general budget to athletics as well, but even with that, there’s a huge shortfall in terms of what it takes to run these programs,” McCombs added.
According to M-A Athletic Director Paul Snow, “that shortfall is around $200,000 to $250,000.” District funds and ticket sale profits pay for less than 40% of necessary costs to support M-A’s 61 sports teams. Boosters raised almost $200,000 last year to distribute to M-A’s teams.
District funds typically go to referees, transportation, and PAL and CCS game entry fees, leaving other necessities like uniforms and equipment behind. For the 2024-25 school year, the District increased funding for coaching stipends.
Boosters raise money through donations and selling Bear Wear.
“Because we don’t raise enough money to give every sport everything they need, we set a priority system,” McCombs said. Boosters’ four priorities include covering coaching stipends, replacing uniforms every three years, base-level equipment, and freshman teams. “The District doesn’t give any money for freshman teams, so we cover all the freshman teams on campus,” she said.
To divide these funds, coaches work with the athletic directors to determine what their sport needs. They then fill out a form for the Boosters detailing their requests. “After they send the form back, our treasurer and I sit down with the athletic directors and review all of those requests to make sure that it is equitable,” McCombs explained.
The Boosters board then reviews each request and votes on the distribution of funds. “It’s really based on if the four key priorities have been met and how much we have raised. We can only give what we have raised,” McCombs said.
“Even with what Boosters give and what they get from the school, for a lot of sports, that’s still not enough,” McCombs said. For more funding, sports like football have created additional nonprofits to accept donations just for their program.
“It costs around $1,500 to put a player on the field, which includes the cost of stipends, food, our academic program, equipment, uniforms, etc.,” M-A Football Association President Susan Mohr said. “We get a certain percentage of that from the Boosters and from the District, and we are left trying to come up with the rest of it. We have to have around $150,000 a year, and that can come from all of those various sources, including what we provide.”
MAFA was founded in 2013 by a group of parents who thought that football needed more funding than the District could provide, and like Boosters, created a nonprofit. “Most of our board is of people who don’t even have kids at M-A anymore or in the program, but we understand what football can do for our student-athletes. Our traction comes from people with the love of football,” Mohr said. MAFA raises money through community fundraisers, parent donations, sponsorships, and grants.
Without these organizations, M-A would have to significantly cut down on its sports offerings.
To donate to the Boosters, click here. To donate to the MAFA, click here.
