Steve Shady, school representative and Athletics Committee member, presented the committee’s vision and mission and a set of recommendations on athletics funding and structure. The committee recommended three primary changes: elevate the athletics-coordinator title to director of athletics, adopt the committee’s vision and mission statements as guiding policy, and increase the athletics budget to a minimum of 1% of the total district budget.

Shady told trustees the athletics budget currently runs about 0.67% of the district’s budget and that raising it to 1% would increase the athletics allocation by roughly $2,000,000 (from about $4.2 million to close to $6.2 million). He said the added funding would be dedicated primarily to coach compensation and to smaller facility and transportation needs that vary by school.

Rationale and priorities: The committee’s written mission emphasizes equitable opportunity to participate in high-quality interscholastic athletics, investments in facilities, recruitment and compensation for coaches, and appropriate staffing and training to ensure safety and competitiveness. Shady argued elevating Tim James’s position to a director-level role would formalize his responsibilities and be a modest compensation increase; he described the change as “probably less than $10,000 a year” in additional cost.

Board exchange: Trustees asked clarifying questions about what the athletics budget covers (coach supplements, limited transportation support, catastrophic insurance, and a trainer program provided through an agreement with Erlanger). Board members also raised concerns about equitable priorities across district needs, whether athletics increases would compete with central-office or classroom priorities, and whether coaches’ seasonal stipends might create situations where supplements approach administrative pay levels. Staff explained stipend caps (currently a 30% overall cap on coaching supplements) and said the stipend structure and any proposed increases could be modeled within the broader compensation and budget discussions.

Ending: Steve Shady said the athletics committee will continue refining the proposal (including potential flat-rate versus percentage stipend models and whether to add an assistant to the athletics coordinator) and staff agreed to provide additional data, including participation and comparative budget figures, at a future meeting. No board action was taken at the work session.