By Alex White
Staff Writer
In preparation for changes brought on by Assembly Bill 165, the Manhattan Beach Unified School District’s Board of Trustees proposed revisions to the athletic and co-curricular booster policy on Feb. 8.
AB 165 essentially enforces the current law in the California constitution that students cannot be charged a fee for any part of the high school experience. The MBUSD revised policy would involve the creation of an umbrella organization under which all boosters would be a part.
“Under the law, students can’t be forced to pay for instructional material,” Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said. “So by law, sports equipment, instruments, and other things fall under a free school guarantee.”
This policy is being created because of the possible implementation of AB 165, which was passed by the California legislature, but vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown. The bill is expected to pass after the veto is overturned by state legislatures, which would affect extracurricular programs.
“This isn’t just boosters; it’s our teachers, textbooks, everything,” Matthews said.
The goal of this proposal is to organize boosters to make sure all wording is clear and maintain transparency throughout. Transparency would involve submission of budgets and concise plans of action for all boosters. Manhattan Beach Athletic Foundation President Gary Wayland took charge on transparency measures.
“We have not been very transparent; we wanted to stay out of the limelight for a variety of reasons,” Wayland said.
The new policy changes the way that boosters can act as a school-connected organization. They must submit to the Board an annual budget. The family of each athlete is currently recommended to donate $325 to cover coaching stipends, trainer salaries, and other safety related issues. Many sport teams also recommend further donations based on each program’s transportation and other costs.
“We will recommend the board take costs related to safety,” Matthews said. “So that will lower the cost for each sport.”
Under the new policy, each individual booster would annually collect $325 per athlete and submit those funds to the MBAF. However, organizations that have lower rates of donations may not receive Board of Trustees approval for expensive trips and other expenses that are very costly.
“It should be a less cost overall for each sport because MBAF would be absorbing part of the costs,” Matthews said.
Wayland spoke to the sports boosters Feb. 8, outlining the goals for MBAF and the source of their profits from athletics and revenue from summer school and other programs like Camp VIP.
With the implementation of the new policy, MBAF will take on a new name and create a new advisory board that includes all sports booster clubs.
“If five [boosters] are doing the exact same thing, we can streamline that process through MBAF,” Matthews said.
If passed, this policy will come into effect for the 2012-13 school year.
“We’re starting the dialogue to get answers,” MBUSD Board member Ellen Rosenberg said. “We’ll make it work.”
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