Duval County: The $7 Million Decision That Nobody Wanted To See

Duval County, located in Jacksonville, FL, has decided to cut all high school sports programs from their budget in order to cover a $97 million shortfall. The decision means, effective immediately, there will be no basketball, no baseball, no football, or any other sports programs in any school located in Duval County—indefinitely.

While Duval is not the only district dealing with the problem of a busted budget, they are the only ones that have decided to do so by cutting all extra-curricular activities—including band. According to Paul Pinkham of jacksonville.com, the Duval County School Board Chairman, W.C. Gentry, stated that Duval County is "...trying to be proactive, start process early, look at impact on district then going to community..." 


That said, how did it get to this point in the first place? 


Many blame the politics of the of Florida's Governor, Rick Scott. Some feel he has brought a questionable agenda to the table in regards to many of the state's most pressing issues—including that of education—and that has meant a shift in the way the state approaches the operations of the public school system. In a nutshell, Scott favors finding profit in everything and is a proponent of expanding Florida's small-school voucher program. And it is that desire that, some feel, fuels Scott's desire to run the state "like a business". This decision has resulted in more wealth for the wealthy, but little for everyone else. 

Whether that theory is true or not is unknown, but that is one of the overwhelming theories on the matter. 

No matter what your politics, it has to be disturbing to see a district come to such a decision—moreso for the opportunities and doors it closes for the athletes than anything else. Where will these prospects go now that they are no longer able to play within their own communities? What are they supposed to do if they either cannot afford or do not have the option of playing elsewhere?


Here's one coach's opinion on the consequences of such an act:

"You take away sports and watch how low the FCAT scores drop. I had a lot of guys who had marginal [grade point averages], but the threat of losing their eligibility got them into the classroom and got their GPA over a 2.0 because they wanted to play sports. You take sports away, and you’ll lose those kids. They won’t have the motivation to get the GPAs up. We’ll lose them to the streets."

For the sake of Duval County, let's hope this decision doesn't trigger a community apocalypse but, on a broader scale, let's hope Duval County's decision doesn't signal the beginning of a trend either. That would be quite a mess indeed.

What say you?