Does Athletic Success Come at the Expense of Academic Success?

It’s Election Day, and in Katy voters will cast their ballots on a nearly $750 million bond. The funds would go to six new schools, and campus renovations, as well as a new football stadium. It’s the largest debt request to appear on any Texas ballot this fall.

With the Katy bond in mind, we turn our attention to school funding, and whether Texas communities are more or less likely to fund projects that primarily support academic programs…or athletic ones.

First, we learn about Premont ISD, near Corpus Christi, a district that was about to be shut down by the TEA, but made a drastic move in 2012 in an attempt to change its fate: Premont ISD ceased all sports. Some were eventually reinstated, but not high school football. We talk with Ernest Singleton, Premont ISD’s former superintendent, about the decision, the reaction, and the impact on the district.

Then, we talk with Marguerite Roza, the author of Educational Economics, a book exploring where school funds actually go, and Daniel Bowen, a Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology at Rice University, and lead author of a study entitled, “Does Athletic Success Come at the Expense of Academic Success?”