The Great Falls Public Schools board will consider whether to add baseball as a spring high school boys sport during their Aug. 5 meeting.

The board has been considering adding the sport for about two years.

In June 2022, the board voted to sanction baseball, but has since been considering the feasibility and logistics of adding the new boys sport.

During the June 2024 board meeting, Athletic Director Mike Henneberg gave an update on the feasibility, cost estimates and factors to consider for adding baseball.

He said there are four major factors to consider:

• betterment of GFPS students and the sport of baseball in Great Falls
• interest and support
• financially viable and sustainable
• feasibility

Henneberg said during the June 2024 meeting that adding high school baseball could potentially allow more student athletes to play the sport since current local options can be cost prohibitive and it may allow some students to participate in a shorter season giving them options for work or training for other sports during the summer.

GFPS officials discuss finances, feasibility of baseball

It was recommended during that meeting that the board budget committee discuss and evaluate options before bringing a recommendation back to the board.

The committee met July 24 and baseball was one of the discussion items, but the committee did not vote to make a recommendation.

District officials are asking the school board to consider Title 9 compliance; availability of buses, drivers and officials; scheduling conflicts; field availability and community funding support in their discussion of adding high school baseball.

Staff includes three options in their agenda report for the board to consider:

• adoption to begin baseball in the spring of 2025, after financial and organization goals are met;
• adoption to begin the spring of 2026, after those goals are met; or
• decide not to adopt baseball.

According to the district, the costs are minimally estimated at:

• $40,000 to $50,000 for one-time startup expenses for uniforms and equipment
• ongoing operating costs of $90,000 to $100,000

GFPS continuing discussion of adding high school baseball

District officials are also asking the board to consider that the athletics budget is currently 2.15 percent of the overall general fund, equating to $1,675,090, the majority of which is coaching salaries and travel. Staff also asked the board to consider that district-wide projected revenues are falling behind expenses, with a growing deficit.

AA athletic directors and principals statewide have already evaluated and made reductions for some activities for the upcoming school year and GFPS officials said those reductions were to address ongoing expenses and not to make financial room for emerging sports such as baseball.

District staff didn’t make a recommendation on baseball in their agenda report other than asking the board to discuss and determine whether to add the sport to the high school athletics program.

The district is in the midst of finalizing its budget, which will be up for board consideration later this month.

During the July 24 budget committee, Mark Finnicum, board member and committee chair, said he’d spoken with some in the local baseball community, including those who had spoken of favor of adding the sport to the high school lineup and who had said they would help raise private funds to support the program.

GFPS discussing whether to add high school baseball, no vote scheduled yet

Finnicum said he’d been told by those community members that the private fundraising wouldn’t be a problem to pay for the first few years of high school baseball, an idea modeled after Billings and Missoula.

But, “I have not seen it yet,” he said in July.

The district is also working with the Great Falls  Public Schools Foundation to determine if the privately raised funds can be held by the foundation.

The district has until Sept. 1 to make a decision if it intends to offer high school baseball in the spring.

GFPS board approves addition of high school baseball program [2022]

Henneberg said during the July committee meeting that he’s using softball numbers to estimate program costs for baseball, but the sports are “highly variable year to year,” depending on the number of students, how far they make it in state tournaments and travel costs are increasing.

Bill Bronson, school board member, said he wanted reasonable assurances there was enough funding available to start a new athletic program.

The district also has to consider transportation availability and costs, weather issues and legal issues, administrators said.

GFPS approves sports ticket price increase [2023]

Superintendent Heather Hoyer said during the July meting that the district has to comply with the federal Title 9 rules and Ridgeway Settlement Agreement from a 1980s federal lawsuit filed against the Montana High School Association regarding gender equity in sports.

Henneberg said they could be in violation of the Ridgeway rules since the district has one more opportunity in female sports since adding wrestling, but it balances out under Title 9 due to proportionality with more boys in sports than girls.

He said there’s some concern over Title 9 rules if they add baseball, since they’re looking at adding 25-30 additional athletes at each high school and he’s not sure what that impact would be on proportionality.

Bronson asked staff to get a memo on the legal issues from the district’s legal counsel.

Hoyer said the equity rules also apply to facilities and transportation in sports.

Henneberg said that had been relatively easy to balance so far since it’s been apples to apples in sports like soccer, that trade practice times on the same fields and when boys are away, girls play at home, and vice versa.

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For baseball, facilities are a concern if the district were to use Centene Stadium, as has been suggested by community members, which is a superior facility to the city’s Multi Sports facility GFPS uses for softball.

Hoyer suggested taking Centene off the table and looking at other available facilities in the community that are comparable to Multi Sports.

She said she knew many people had visions of high school baseball at Centene, but didn’t think they’d be able to overcome the fairness aspect of that arrangement.

Hoyer said that Henneberg brought a reduction in post season sports events to the board that was a collective decision made amongst AA schools who are all struggling to make budget reductions.

She said she knows there’s a rumor in the community that the district made that move to accommodate baseball, but “that’s just not true.”

Henneberg said athletic directors worked together to make that decision to protect their conference.

Gordon Johnson who is not a committee member but is chair of the school board, said adding baseball is a “complex question of whether or not it’s feasible.”

Henneberg said it’s also a question of what comes next after the decision on baseball, such as moves across the state to add girls flag football or other sports.