Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Summertime in New Mexico for a high school sports reporter becomes almost lethargic.
Obviously outside of unofficial summer sports programs and some sparse recreational stories, there isn't a ton for me to report on,
And I'm not the only sports guy who has this problem.
So I spend much of spend my free time working freelance photography for an Albuquerque-based company that four years ago was fortunate enough to land a contract photographing the Colorado High School Coaches Association All-Star games at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado.
The way our neighbors do things up north is a bit different in regard to their high school all-stars. Instead of spreading out the games over different venues at different times, the CHSCA elects to hold every game over a four-day span on site at ASU.
It also chooses four teams for basketball, four teams for volleyball, two football teams, two softball teams, a cross country team, a spirit team and a wrestling team, and class and division are irrelevant. If you played at an all-star level for a 1A basketball team, you go play against players who performed in 6A at an all-star level, and it's set up in tournament format, at least for basketball and volleyball.
Basically it's a week the CHSCA spends a good amount of time on, taking care of close to 300 athletes and coaches plus volunteers.
I noticed this year how much the event has improved over the last four years in execution, quality and participation. There are more events for players and parents, more food, more fun, more entertainment, and the players are privy to more and higher quality equipment than in years past.
Speaking with some of the football players, their parents and coaches, we had discussions about how many – if not most – programs in Colorado have received new uniforms, more training equipment and most importantly a new generation of helmets, and many schools are in the process of either rebuilding or remodeling educational facilities.
Perhaps already knowing the answer, I asked where the influx of funding for schools may have come from, and the answer I received was almost always the same one: recreational marijuana sales.
In 2015 alone, marijuana sales reached more than $996 million and the state took in $135 million in tax revenue from it. Both of those numbers are projected to grow in 2016, and at least $35 million of tax revenue is slated for school-related construction projects.
Coloradoans also approved the BEST Program last year which is used to renew or replace deteriorating public schools. The program prioritizes funding based on issues such as asbestos removal, building code violations, overcrowding, and poor indoor air quality. BEST grants are awarded on a competitive basis and awarded annually, but as an excise tax I don't foresee that funding losing momentum anytime soon.
Colorado also distributes $2.5 million per year from that revenue to the Department of Education for the School Health Professional Grant Program to address behavioral health issues in public schools, as well as $5,683,608 toward its public awareness marijuana education campaign and another $320,000 to cannabis health environmental and epidemiological training, outreach and surveillance.
If you've been to a community crime forum lately, you'll know that behavioral and mental health are huge talking points in Socorro County right now.
Now I can't tell you how much, if any marijuana-related tax monies go directly to athletics programs, but I can tell you that the CHSCA All-Star week is funded solely through various sponsorship like families, businesses or individuals, so that's a non-issue.
What else I know though is that I've covered high school athletics for quite a few years now, two of those years here in Socorro County, and I've seen funding for high school sports deteriorate at an exponential level.
At Socorro High School alone funds for Warriors programs have been cut by 50 percent in the last three years, and most programs (if not every one) have been put on a five-year uniform rotation and are being forced to raise a majority of their travel and miscellaneous expenses themselves.
Now I know a majority of high school athletics teams have fundraisers, but many SHS teams are working with budgets of around $800, which won't get you very far. I know of one program that's being left out of the five-year new uniform rotation this upcoming year, and will have to come up with its own money if it wants new ones.
Shifting to education, New Mexico traditionally ranks in the bottom 10 in education in the nation, while Colorado is traditionally in the top five in regard to scores and graduation rates.
I don't know how much of Colorado's marijuana laws have to do with that. I don't, and I'm not asserting that legalizing marijuana in New Mexico will solve all of our problems.
Of course there are those morally opposed to it. Of course there are those who think it can lead to heavier drug use.
I don't personally use marijuana and probably never will (again), but I have seen friends suffering from cancer and chronic pain find a better way of life because of cannabis, and I really can't ignore that number up there that Colorado schools are now privy to: $40 million - at least.
That may seem like a drop in the bucket of New Mexico's $6.3 billion education budget, but it's a start.
I'm not politicizing or glorifying a plant that has gotten such a negative stigma from what is still close to a majority of Americans, I'm simply asking: If we can use the sale of it to help high school kids have a better education, a better experience and a better shot at achieving whatever it is they want to after high school, then why not?
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Colorado High Schools Seeing Benefits Of Legal Cannabis
Author: Jonathan Miller
Contact: (575) 835-0520
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: dchieftain.com
Obviously outside of unofficial summer sports programs and some sparse recreational stories, there isn't a ton for me to report on,
And I'm not the only sports guy who has this problem.
So I spend much of spend my free time working freelance photography for an Albuquerque-based company that four years ago was fortunate enough to land a contract photographing the Colorado High School Coaches Association All-Star games at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado.
The way our neighbors do things up north is a bit different in regard to their high school all-stars. Instead of spreading out the games over different venues at different times, the CHSCA elects to hold every game over a four-day span on site at ASU.
It also chooses four teams for basketball, four teams for volleyball, two football teams, two softball teams, a cross country team, a spirit team and a wrestling team, and class and division are irrelevant. If you played at an all-star level for a 1A basketball team, you go play against players who performed in 6A at an all-star level, and it's set up in tournament format, at least for basketball and volleyball.
Basically it's a week the CHSCA spends a good amount of time on, taking care of close to 300 athletes and coaches plus volunteers.
I noticed this year how much the event has improved over the last four years in execution, quality and participation. There are more events for players and parents, more food, more fun, more entertainment, and the players are privy to more and higher quality equipment than in years past.
Speaking with some of the football players, their parents and coaches, we had discussions about how many – if not most – programs in Colorado have received new uniforms, more training equipment and most importantly a new generation of helmets, and many schools are in the process of either rebuilding or remodeling educational facilities.
Perhaps already knowing the answer, I asked where the influx of funding for schools may have come from, and the answer I received was almost always the same one: recreational marijuana sales.
In 2015 alone, marijuana sales reached more than $996 million and the state took in $135 million in tax revenue from it. Both of those numbers are projected to grow in 2016, and at least $35 million of tax revenue is slated for school-related construction projects.
Coloradoans also approved the BEST Program last year which is used to renew or replace deteriorating public schools. The program prioritizes funding based on issues such as asbestos removal, building code violations, overcrowding, and poor indoor air quality. BEST grants are awarded on a competitive basis and awarded annually, but as an excise tax I don't foresee that funding losing momentum anytime soon.
Colorado also distributes $2.5 million per year from that revenue to the Department of Education for the School Health Professional Grant Program to address behavioral health issues in public schools, as well as $5,683,608 toward its public awareness marijuana education campaign and another $320,000 to cannabis health environmental and epidemiological training, outreach and surveillance.
If you've been to a community crime forum lately, you'll know that behavioral and mental health are huge talking points in Socorro County right now.
Now I can't tell you how much, if any marijuana-related tax monies go directly to athletics programs, but I can tell you that the CHSCA All-Star week is funded solely through various sponsorship like families, businesses or individuals, so that's a non-issue.
What else I know though is that I've covered high school athletics for quite a few years now, two of those years here in Socorro County, and I've seen funding for high school sports deteriorate at an exponential level.
At Socorro High School alone funds for Warriors programs have been cut by 50 percent in the last three years, and most programs (if not every one) have been put on a five-year uniform rotation and are being forced to raise a majority of their travel and miscellaneous expenses themselves.
Now I know a majority of high school athletics teams have fundraisers, but many SHS teams are working with budgets of around $800, which won't get you very far. I know of one program that's being left out of the five-year new uniform rotation this upcoming year, and will have to come up with its own money if it wants new ones.
Shifting to education, New Mexico traditionally ranks in the bottom 10 in education in the nation, while Colorado is traditionally in the top five in regard to scores and graduation rates.
I don't know how much of Colorado's marijuana laws have to do with that. I don't, and I'm not asserting that legalizing marijuana in New Mexico will solve all of our problems.
Of course there are those morally opposed to it. Of course there are those who think it can lead to heavier drug use.
I don't personally use marijuana and probably never will (again), but I have seen friends suffering from cancer and chronic pain find a better way of life because of cannabis, and I really can't ignore that number up there that Colorado schools are now privy to: $40 million - at least.
That may seem like a drop in the bucket of New Mexico's $6.3 billion education budget, but it's a start.
I'm not politicizing or glorifying a plant that has gotten such a negative stigma from what is still close to a majority of Americans, I'm simply asking: If we can use the sale of it to help high school kids have a better education, a better experience and a better shot at achieving whatever it is they want to after high school, then why not?
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Colorado High Schools Seeing Benefits Of Legal Cannabis
Author: Jonathan Miller
Contact: (575) 835-0520
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: dchieftain.com
