Coachless in Creswell.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The Creswell School District, like others around the state, is engaged in budgetary triage as it prepares for the coming academic year. Creswell High School Principal Bob George needs to cut $220,000 from a $1.7 million budget. He put the school's entire athletic program, costing about $100,000, on the chopping block.

George has his priorities straight. When the choice is between teaching algebra and having a basketball team, algebra wins. The high school's central purpose is to provide classroom instruction; the core academic program must be protected - even at the cost of popular programs such as athletics.

Creswell is believed to be the first district in Oregon to cut athletics altogether, but it's not likely to be the last. Creswell's painful choice illustrates the financial bind in which school districts across Oregon find themselves. In Eugene, the city is considering a property tax levy to pay for programs like those that will be cut in Creswell (see editorial above). In Creswell and elsewhere, sports and other programs will increasingly rely on volunteer labor and supporters' donations for their continued existence.

While athletics are a lower priority than academic programs, they are important - indeed, essential - to many students' educational experience. What's more, sports programs provide an important connection between the schools and the community. In a small town like Creswell, high school sports are central to the community's identity.

Creswell should be able to find ways to keep most or all of its sports programs going. Fund-raising efforts are already under way. But a central part of life in Creswell will now come to depend on car washes and bake sales. Oregonians are shortchanging both their children and themselves with an inadequate school finance system.