A loud BOOM reverberates around the small stadium of East Lyme High School on a Friday night. Smoke pours from one end of the field and fireworks shoot off as players run out and greet the roaring crowd. This is all new for EL; the cannon and the fireworks add to the ambiance of Friday night lights.
With last year’s budget freeze and the high school running out of paper, many students and staff wonder where the money for these extras came from.
“It was just perfect timing. The athletics budget had been fully spent by the time I was hired, so I asked Mr. Newton if there was any money I could spend to bring some energy to games… There just happened to be a small bit [of money] left over, so I was able to purchase those extras,” ELPS athletic director Kevin Marcoux said.
The two smoke machines cost $300 together, the cannon cost $1,200, and the fireworks display cost $2,600. Spotlights for the North Gym were also purchased with this excess money. Superintendent Jeff Newton and Mr. Marcoux both expressed that the various aesthetic enhancements such as the smoke machines weren’t purchased with money meant for other departments or materials for the high school.
The sports budget is completely separate from the academic budget (including the P.E. department), but they both come out of the district’s overall budget.
A significant contributor to the excess money, according to Principal Deb Kelly, was the budget freeze. Because the budget was frozen to accommodate unforeseen costs in fixing the network and a general increase in prices, budgeted money was spent sparingly throughout the rest of year. This, along with other factors, left a portion of the district budget left over at the end of the budget term, July 1. According to Superintendent Newton, any excess money
left in the budget is recycled back to the town’s separate budget after July 1 and cannot accumulate like money in a personal bank account. Because of this, departments must spend their whole budget or lose the money.
In previous years, athletic directors were also teachers. Mr. Marcoux has taken on the role full time, in an administrative role.
As an administrator he oversees the sports budget, asking Central Office for approval directly whereas other departments within the high school must propose their budgets to Ms. Kelly, who then proposes them to Central Office. Budgets are proposed, edited, and approved one year in advance.
“We don’t know the exact cost [of things a year in advance]. Sometimes things cost less than we expected, for what we budgeted for, so then there’s savings [not a buildup of money but excess funds],” Superintendent Newton said, explaining how some excess funds developed. Costs such as bussing can be over budgeted. If not all teams go to finals and states, then there is leftover money in the athletic budget that was originally allotted to transportation.
According to the previous assistant athletic director, coach, and ELHS P.E. teacher Jack Biggs, he has never known about leftover money available to request. Ms. Kelly acknowledged there hasn’t been leftover money in recent years, and if it does happen, spending it is an administrative decision.
When asked how the budget for sports has been in past years, coach Biggs responded: “It’s adequate, but it’s not
enough to fund exactly what we want to do.”
As a full-time athletic director, Mr. Marcoux can dedicate his full attention and time to sustaining and building EL’s athletic success.
“I’m in the process of negotiating an all- school uniform deal which will save money… When I came in [last May] I did save some money using vendors from my previous school and saved $5,000 based on just using a different vendor,” Mr. Marcoux said.
The next expected enhancement to athletics is spotlights in the North Gym, which were purchased with the same excess funds in the summer along with the smoke machines, fireworks, and cannon to continue Mr. Marcoux’s mission of improving ELHS games for fans and athletes.
