by Jack Armstrong ‘15, Emma Izzo ‘15, and Connor Loughran ‘15

Nearly all non-athletic activities and clubs at Sherwood have to raise money on their own, with little or no financial support from either MCPS or the school. This leaves many clubs, honor societies, publications and performing arts groups scrambling to independently raise money to cover operational costs and activities such as field trips and school performances.

In order to raise money last year, the Key Club sold “boo grams” to students. Other clubs, such as the Shakespeare Club, sell pizza to students after school while a number of clubs and societies hold fundraiser nights at local restaurants. Any money raised is then put into individual school accounts for each club.

For most of these groups raising money is difficult. “We don’t really make any money,” said language resource teacher and French Honor Society sponsor John Falls. “The only money that we take in is [from members’] dues, and we honestly break even by buying the graduation cords at the end of the year.” Falls said that the lack of money makes it difficult to have activities and events, so students have to pay out of pocket for them.

Another factor in raising money is both the type of club and the number of students in the club. Honor societies, for example, tend to have club dues for buying cords for graduation, and some, like French Honor Society, are required to pay a fee to the parent corporation.

Usually, service clubs, such as the Key Club, try to raise money for charities to which the club is affiliated, whereas honor societies and student government tend to raise money to hold special events and activities such as Mr. Sherwood.
“Our club doesn’t really make money,” said Key Club sponsor and social studies teacher Michelle Games. “All of the money we do collect is either in terms of dues or any fundraiser or collections we do are primarily for charities.”

When clubs struggle to raise money, the burden often falls on staff sponsors and student members to raise more. In contrast, the athletics department receives annual funding from MCPS. Sherwood athletics received $34,102 from the county last year as well as $22,087 from student parking permits. The rest of the funding for school sports comes from booster clubs, parent sponsors, ticket sales and other fundraisers. All money raised by each sport, with the exception of fundraisers, then go into one large account that covers all sports, according to Business Administrator Linda Berkheimer.

“The money [for athletics] is in one account, but tracked by the sub-accounts of each sport, Berkheimer said. “[After that], it is [Athletic Director Kathy] Green’s job to make sure that all the money is distributed evenly,” she said.

In total, athletics’ revenue for the 2013-2014 school year was $197,586. In addition to the allocation from MCPS, sources of money included $28,120 from the Warrior Booster Club, $50,848 from gate receipts, and $42,210 from various fundraising campaigns.
Sherwood sports in total spent $222,526 last year. The overall Athletics’ account began the 2013-14 year with a balance of $100,913 and ended the year with $75,974 in its account. In contrast, most clubs and activities started the year with zero, and ended it with the same amount, since the only money that came in was spent.

While a few non-athletic activities receive a small amount of money from MCPS, that amount is barely enough to cover yearly expenses or cover costs of buying new or replacing damaged equipment. The drama department, for example, only received $275 in ‘program aids’ last year.

While some organizations have built networks of financial support from the parent community, no singular booster club exists to generally support the efforts of the school’s clubs and academically-focused extracurricular activities. Similarly, the school itself provides limited financial support for a small number of the many non-athletic activities.

Money Raised from Parking Permits  Annually Goes to the Athletics Department

By Jack Armstrong ‘15

The annual $75 parking permit fee required by students who drive to Sherwood raised $22,087.50 for the school during the 2013-2014 school year. The fee is set by the county and is the same for all MCPS high schools. The money Sherwood raises each year from these permit fees is distributed to the athletic departments throughout the county, going to multiple sports teams as a way to pay athletics expenses before other money comes in from MCPS.

According to Business Administrator Linda Berkheimer, the money Sherwood’s athletic department receives from MCPS is based on the number of parking permits sold and the enrollment at Sherwood. She says if Sherwood has a problem raising enough money from parking permits due to a declining number of upperclassmen who drive, Sherwood would receive additional funding from MCPS. The county would then take into account the total number of students enrolled before providing additional funds.