The Buffalo News today reported a story in which reporter Maki Becker gives us some more detail on the New York State Public High School Athletic Association cuts as he interviewed executive director Nina Van Erk.
There wasn't a whole lot of information than what we have previously reported, but there are a couple of interesting items in the piece.
Van Erk says that it is expected that the cuts will save schools in the state up to $10 million, with nearly $6 million of that going to officiating fees.
The other thing that comes from this story is that the cuts are expected to be for two years.
The changes, which were approved by a slim majority late last month, would begin in the next school year and would remain in effect for two years, Van Erk told the paper.
This opens up some more questions.
Did Van Erk and the rest of the NYSPHSAA directors make these cuts for two years because it is a quick fix to help schools and families get through these difficult economic times?
Was it announced that the cuts are for two years because that is the original plan or because of all the backlash the NYSPHSAA has received from coaches and athletic directors?
And what happens after two years? Will these policies just continue or will they be reviewed again at that time, with the number of games being returned to the schedule?
Buffalo Public Schools athletic director David Thomas summed up what a lot of people are thinking when they hear this with his quote late in the story.
“I don’t think we should be worried about funding school budgets on the backs of the kids playing sports,” said Thomas told the paper.
Cutting the number of games might help school districts in the more remote areas of Western New York that require longer traveling distances, Thomas said, “but it doesn’t save it up here [in Buffalo], where we are trying to keep the kids off the streets and busy with school and athletics.”
The current schedule allows Buffalo athletes the opportunity to play in suburban areas and “to travel to some nice tournaments,” Thomas said. “Now we have to pull back on that.”
Thomas also questioned whether the cuts were really temporary. “When they take things away,” he said, “they don’t often come back.”
