THE FRONT ROW with Jason Elliott, July 27, 2013

Fall practices aren't scheduled for the Lakeside High football and volleyball teams until Aug. 16, but the biggest date will come on Aug. 27.

Due to a supplemental levy failing on May 2, the school was forced to cut $200,000 from their budget for the 2013-14 school year, including funds for sports programs.

THE SCHOOL is currently raising the estimated $38,000 it will cost to field high school and junior high football and volleyball programs this year.

"The Plummer-Worley District had never ran a levy and it wound up failing by 100 votes," Lakeside athletic director Jerel Hight said. "We've since adopted a four-day work-week and cut funding for all athletics."

Among the fundraisers will be a raffle for an ATV during the Julyamsh Powwow at the Greyhound Park in Post Falls this weekend.

"We've hit the amount to buy the ATV, so now all the funds go directly to the athletic department," Hight said.

Funds from the Coeur d'Alene Casino have gone to education within the district.

"The way it works, they donate money to the school district and that goes to save teacher positions," said Hight, who graduated from Lakeside High in 2005. "The school board said we need to focus on education and that's the most important thing. It's tough, especially at a small school. I went to Lakeside, played football and ran track. Without athletics, I don't know what I would have done."

Lakeside does have a pay-to-play program for athletics - charging participants $50 to play a sport.

"We've been doing it for the last couple of years and it's been on the cheaper side than other schools in the state," Hight said. "Last year, we moved our revenue up at the high school level, but it still wasn't enough."

Both the football and volleyball programs will have new coaches this year, with Jason Dalton taking over the football program from Ron Miller - who recently retired from coaching. Karen Stockdale and Kellee Johnson will co-coach the volleyball program, taking over for Jan Mitchell - who resigned last fall.

HIGHT ADDED that he's already heard from at least four families that have expressed interest in transferring, should the levy not pass again.

The Idaho High School Activities Association has split the 1A Division I (enrollment at 159-100), where Lakeside competes, and Division II (99 and below) through the 2012-2014 season.

"It's a big blow to the community," Hight said. "We've got 102 kids at the high school, which makes us two over from the Division I and Division II split. If they opt to leave, that drops us into Division II."

The home football opener is Sept. 6 against Kootenai.

"On the nights of games, there's lots of people coming into town," Hight said. "And I can't imagine it doesn't help the local economy, with people stopping at the restaurants and stores. Basketball is king down here and if you don't have a game on a Thursday or Saturday, there's not much else to do. Our gym was packed for games last year because people come out and watch."

They compete with Wallace for the lone berth to a state play-in game in football, volleyball and basketball.

"We're banking on that levy right now," Hight said. "We've had some teams that we scheduled that have since backed out, but a majority of them are going to stick with us. And we're going to do everything we can do to stay."

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.