The anti-obesity campaign isn’t the only policy initiative that’s leading to regulatory scrutiny of high school bake sales. There’s Title IX and its state equivalents, too:
Controversy in New Mexico continues over booster club funding and Title IX implementation as discussion heats up over the state’s Schools Athletics Equity Act. The issue remains whether private donations raised by parents through bake sales and working concession stands, or whether philanthropic contributions by private businesses, should be pooled together and distributed among all boys and girls teams under the guise of Title IX equality — and regardless of which parents/teams raised what.
Not surprisingly, many expect volunteerism to droop if the chance to raising funds for your team’s road trip or new equipment is replaced by a new rule prescribing that you can only raise money for school sports generally and hope that some fraction gets passed through to your team. [Deborah Elson, Saving Sports; earlier on booster clubs]
One Comment
It’s not just volunteerism that will drop. In the last few months I’ve paid $17 for cookie dough to benefit a coworker’s kid (I don’t even remember if it was for sports or drama club, doesn’t matter, I’m making this donation because of my relationship to the kid and her father) as well as $20 for some coupons to benefit my friend’s daughter’s softball team. We’ve really gone beyond selling candy bars for a buck. I don’t think I’d be very likely to shell out $20 to support sports generally, some of it may go to football, and those assholes beat me up in high school.