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The Kodiak
High School football team started practice on Monday, the same day officials
with the Kodiak Football League had their contract with the school district
approved. Jay Barrett has more on the league and its growing need for
financing.
The Kodiak
Football League is a non-profit organization that raises its own money, with no
direct financial help from the Kodiak Island Borough School District. But if
KFL’s new president Hamilton Long gets his wish, that could change.
He says the
league has about 16-thousand dollars on-hand, and has plans to raise
76-thousand dollars this year. But that might not be enough, especially if the
high school team has the same success it had the last two years, so Long was
hoping the district could fund any playoff trips that might occur this year:
-- (KFL 1 38
sec “…
provide these services for the high school.”)
District
funding for the league has been a hot potato – or a political football, if you
will – since the program’s inception. One draw on the high school program this
year is an increased expenditure on the KFL’s youth league, which Long says it
also funds and operates:
-- (KFL 2 38
sec “…
ignored for the last two or three years.”)
KFL board
member Rich Walker also made a pitch for district funding, not just for the
high school team, but the youth program as well:
-- (KFL 3 20
sec “…
high school and the youth league, alright?”)
School
board member Norm Wooten told Walker and Long that budget proposal time was six
months ago:
-- (KFL 4 35
sec “…
could certainly bring us some, some recommendations.”)
One of the
ways the KFL raises money is through players performing odd jobs around town
for donations. But Long says that needs to be a requirement to play:
-- (KFL 5 37 sec “… the KFL fees and the volunteer
hours.”)
Long said
the fees and volunteer work accounts for 10 percent of the KFL’s budget. The
board voted unanimously to approve the contract with the league, but did not
make that change to it, or offer any funding.
I’m Jay
Barrett.
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HOST TAG: The Kodiak High School Bears
football team opens its seven-game regular season a week from Saturday on
August 9th here at home against Seward. The Bears will also host
Homer, Soldotna and Houston this year, and travel to play Skyview, Kenai and
Palmer. The Northern Lights Conference Schedule is on our web site, KMXT dot
org.
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