photo by: Contributed

Lawrence gymnast Sophia Zogry

Although the Lawrence school district said cutting the high school gymnastics program would save the district $32,000 in its annual budget, it does not have calculations of costs for other high school sports.

That’s important because the district administration specifically noted the cost of the gymnastics program and the district’s tight overall budget — which may suffer a multimillion-dollar shortfall next school year — as part of the reason for its recent recommendation to discontinue the program.

But district spokeswoman Julie Boyle on Thursday acknowledged that cutting the program would not provide a significant cost savings for the district. However, she said the program has been on the chopping block for several years now for more than just the issue of funding.

Meanwhile, along with parents and students who have called for the district to reverse course, a gymnastics coach from a different school district has asked the Lawrence school board to keep the Lawrence High School and Free State High School teams, suggesting its decision could hurt other programs in the state.

“Lawrence Free State and Lawrence High have two of the largest and most competitive programs in the state,” Olathe gymnastics coach Amanda Harrington said in an email to the board, which was provided to the Journal-World. “Losing these programs will affect the talent level and competition in a negative way for all gymnasts.”

As part of the district’s announcement to students and families associated with the gymnastics program, it noted that the cost for coaching, transportation and equipment needs came in at about $32,000 and it had become “more challenging because of the district’s current budget shortfall.”

To better understand that cost compared to dozens of other high school sports offered by the district, the Journal-World requested similar financial breakdowns of the district’s other high school athletic programs, such as football, volleyball and girls and boys basketball. But Boyle said those financial details were not “readily available,” noting that district staff would need to compile them manually.

However, those financial details should be reflected somewhere in the district’s annual budget. The Journal-World has requested through the Kansas Open Records Act that the district provide those details.

Additionally, compared to the district’s overall general operating budget, the cost of the program is minute. For the 2021-22 school year, the school board approved a budget with a plan to spend about $107.7 million from its general fund, the Journal-World previously reported. That means the gymnastics costs make up less than 0.03% of the general operating budget.

Boyle acknowledged that cutting the program would not lead to major savings.

“Our school and district administration have been discussing the discontinuation of gymnastics for several years for all of the reasons previously shared,” she said in an email. “While there is some cost-avoidance involved, no, it is not a significant cost savings.”

But the district administration’s recommendation also comes after recently learning the district may be facing a multimillion-dollar shortfall next school year.

As the Journal-World previously reported, the district is facing a shortfall between $2 million and $3.2 million because of its declining full-time-equivalency enrollment. Despite seeing a slight increase in in-person enrollment this year, the district still would see a shortfall associated with earlier enrollment declines that it had delayed through provisions offered in the state’s K-12 public education funding formula.

As part of the process to address the expected shortfall, Boyle said the board’s budget and program evaluation committee, which includes a subcommittee for athletics, is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss each subcommittee’s proposals for cost savings.

Meanwhile, the district gave several other reasons why the program might be discontinued. As the Journal-World previously reported, the district cited concerns about low participation, with just 22 students from the two high schools, and a small number of programs in the state. It also said the program lacked dedicated practice space in the district and posed safety concerns because of aging equipment and requiring staff to move the equipment.

Additionally, the district said the school’s athletic conference, the Sunflower League, has been discussing “the future of high school gymnastics” because there are only three 6A programs, including Lawrence, and 14 programs statewide. Boyle said Thursday that discussion was among the three league school districts with gymnastics — Lawrence, Olathe and Shawnee Mission — and they primarily focused on the struggle to host meets for the sport.

But Harrington — who is the coach of Olathe’s program, one of the two other league programs — asked the Lawrence school board to think of more than just Lawrence when making a decision.

Harrington said in her email to the board that she was speaking to the board on behalf of coaches for both the Olathe and Shawnee Mission programs and that they believe cutting the Lawrence teams could result in the Kansas State High School Activities Association deciding to no longer sponsor gymnastics.

“This not only affects these two programs, but it affects gymnastics statewide,” Harrington said in an email to the board.

She also said high school gymnastics programs inspire female athletes to participate in other high school sports, such as swimming and diving and track and field. If the gymnasts are only able to participate in the sport through club programs, they are more likely to stay away from other high school sports, Harrington said.

“If they continue to do club, we will see a decrease in female athlete participation during other seasons,” she said to the board. “I am asking you to please consider gymnastics and female athletes statewide before you make this decision.”