Unlocking the Gates: California's Public School & College Athletic Facility Access

In California, where outdoor play is not just a pastime but a way of life, the state's public school & college athletic facilities once served as vital spaces for physical activity, community gatherings, and youth development after school hours or on the weekends or in the summer.

Today, California public schools and colleges sports facilities have become more akin to sports field cemeteries than vibrant centers of athletic activity after normal school hours primarily due to a pay to play model that California public schools and colleges have adopted which charges hundreds of dollars per hour to finance maintenance and insurance for the use of the facilities.

It's time to address these issues and breathe new life into California's public school & college athletic facilities.

The Problem

Despite the State of California annual public school and college $125 billion budget plus California public school and college property valued at $125 billion plus a California law that requires school facility public access, most California public school & college facility managers view the funding for these sports facilities as highly uncertain which requires bond issues or parent fund raising to generate the funding necessary to build and maintain the sports facilities .

So once those facilities are built and financed, the schools or colleges facilities managers immediately protect those facilities to ensure their longevity like building 10 foot fences around outdoor facilities or limit access to gyms -and when they do provide access, the hourly rate and insurance requirements effectively discourages any possible use outside of normal school activities---and for good reason – for example to replace a turf field -every 5-8 years can cost anywhere between $600k-$1 million and requires extensive monthly maintenance.

Plus, California public schools have additional concerns regarding legal liability -which has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits when a facility condition may be the cause in part due to a player injury.

Solution

Physical Activity is As Important as Math and Science

While we live in a highly competitive technical world that stresses the importance of academics to build skills-we need to provide our kids the ability to develop and mature socially as well -with incrementally greater independent play experiences to help grow and develop into independent adults.

Schools provide a perfect secure environment (with all those fences) for our kids to play independently after school or the weekends or in the summer but within a secure environment giving parents some assurance that they will be relatively safe environment.

Facility Maintenance/ Replacement Costs

Based on our facility studies, most school athletic facilities are only used about 20% of the time via official school activities-which leaves about 80% of the time that billions of dollars in assets could be rented and used.

We estimate that most mid-size school districts (based on 2800 hour non- school hour availability) that half those hours could be rented at $50 per hr ( a rate that most families could afford) -which would generate $350k over 60 months and if a school district has 8 facilities (gyms and sports fields) -that’s about $2.8 million in revenue ( as compared to no revenue) that could offset maintenance/ replacement cost plus that leaves an additional 1400 hours of free time for the community’s kids to use the facilities.

Labor and Insurance

Labor

A big cost factor is labor when renting the facilities-for example-typically janitor or cleanup charges for a rental can be as much as $50 per hour with a four-hour minimum charge-which amounts to $200 for every 3-hour use.

Just like there are parent volunteers in most classrooms, it seems equally viable to have parent volunteers in the community that provide the monitoring and cleanup for the schools sports facilities use.

Insurance

Its inevitable if the use of the facilities goes up -so does legal risk-but that is the purpose of insurance -and most schools are already paying on average of $50k a year for its insurance coverage (including liability insurance) -even if the premium went up by 50%-this seems a manageable cost based on the additional revenue generated by the facilities and the general benefit to the community families.

Tone at the Top

Since California Board of Education controls most of the significant school funding in California and its funding philosophy seems to endorse the general view that “education ends at 3:00 p.m. each weekday and what happens after 3:00 p.m. -is not really a school issue” and funds school districts on that premise.

It’s important that parents communicate to the Governor and their local state representative who appoint and approve the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction and Director of Education (plus your local school board ) to endorse and encourage sports facility access 7 days a week and after school hours----and should be a condition of funding for all school districts in California.

Conclusion

California's public school athletic facilities have a unique set of sports facilities assets that managed well have the power to enhance our children’s development, unite communities and promote physical fitness. However, realizing this potential requires a paradigm shift in how we approach facility management and access.

By prioritizing affordability, inclusivity, and community involvement, we can unlock the gates to these valuable resources and usher in a new era of vitality and opportunity for California's families. It's time to reclaim our athletic fields, that we fund, as vibrant and active play spaces.