Some parents claim Davenport schools are greedy
There’s evidently been some confusion.
Some Assumption High School parents think they’re being ripped off by a new Davenport School District policy. The $2,000 per game that Assumption is being charged this year to use the district-owned Brady Street Stadium was shocking enough.
But news that the district was taking away Assumption’s access to concession profits really set some parents off.
One Assumption parent wrote a letter to the editor of the Times last month, saying the new policy is unfair. After all, he argued, almost half of his Davenport property taxes go to the school district. His kid, went the argument, should benefit from concession profits, too.
Well, not so fast.
Mary Wieser, superintendent for schools in the Davenport Diocese, said the new charges were no surprise to Assumption decision-makers. In fact, they negotiated the deal with Davenport.
“We knew about the use fee,” she said. “We knew about the concessions. It was probably some parents who didn’t know who got upset.”
It’s hard to say where the communication broke down, but Davenport School District spokeswoman Laura Lortz said Assumption higher-ups have known for two years. In fact, the school was given a one-year grace period to prepare for the changes.
“It was a very deliberate process,” she said.
And here’s the reason for it: The school district paid 100 percent of the $769,000 it cost this year to replace the artificial turf at Brady Street Stadium. Since they shelled out all the clams, they have to at least charge to help maintain it.
For those who make the we-pay-taxes-too argument, there’s still room to quarrel.
After all, the $769,000 came from the district’s Physical Plant and Equipment Levy, which, of course, is a special property tax. Many parents who have kids at Assumption also paid for the artificial turf at Brady Street through their Davenport property taxes.
But there’s no escaping this old rub: When parents enroll their kids in private schools, public schools get considerably less money from the state. A large part of state education money is doled out on a per-pupil basis.
If you look at the 411 students enrolled last year at Assumption and multiply them by the roughly $5,500 per student the state kicks in, the loss in state money is $2,260,500 annually. That wouldn’t all go to Davenport, of course, but a large chunk of it would.
As long as we’ve got the calculator out, the new surface at Brady Street is expected to last about 10 years. With Assumption paying $2,000 for each of four home games and one spring track meet, and St. Ambrose University paying the same amount for each of five annual Brady Street events, the district is making $20,000 a year off the two Catholic schools.
Over 10 years, that’s $200,000 — about a fourth of the total cost of the turf. And that’s not including its maintenance, stadium lighting and cleanup after games.
And, as Wieser pointed out, “If we didn’t have Brady Street Stadium, and they didn’t let us play there, Assumption and St. Ambrose would have no place to play.
“We have to pay our fair share.”
One little quibble with that, according to Assumption Principal Andy Craig, is that Assumption never was asked to contribute to the new turf.
But Wieser said the per-use contributions seem fair.
“I have to compliment the Davenport School District,” she said. “They’ve been extremely cooperative.”
On the matter of the concessions, Lortz said the district is splitting the profits among the three district high schools. Parents from West, Central and North will staff the food sales at all games, and the “unified boosters” will get an even split of the dough at the end of each year.
Public school and private school parents likely never will agree on who is entitled to what share of district resources. But all of their kids play at the same place.
Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.