According to the Carlisle School district website, the student activity budget has been lowered from $1,941,230 to $1,881,062 between the 2025 graduating season and the current year. When comparing these huge numbers, a $60,168 difference hardly seems significant, but when put into perspective, $60,000 is enough to afford a Nissan Z, or something equally as valuable.
Being that this budget has to stretch across the entirety of the Carlisle Area School District including both middle schools and all the elementary schools, money has been drawn thin for certain programs. For example, the Carlisle High School marching band has been struggling with funding for buying new instruments to replace those that have been in use since at least the early 2000’s. On top of that the entire indoor percussion season for this winter has been cut for the 2025-2026 season for reasons including lack of funding. Activities such as cheer have also been facing issues with their budget making it increasingly difficult to even keep up yearly traditions. Cheerleader Kealyn Britcher claims that even the yearly “Pinkout” event might be out of the picture, even with fundraising.
Attendance and interest is increasing in extra curricula, making it seem pointless to make cuts, and instead there should be an increase of funding to further the success of these growing programs. The marching band is up in numbers this year, reaching its largest enrollment since the pandemic, yet it was this year that 10% was cut from their budget. The money to spread among extra curricula is lesser this year and by far not evenly distributed.
With the growth of the school district and the new building inevitably being added, a few cuts here and there have become necessary. Carlisle has boomed in population within the last 5 years meaning more teachers, more classes, and more expenses. Yet, where the board is choosing to cut is defunding certain programs and leading to a disappointing outcome for both staff and students. The amount each program was lent has been unevenly dispersed between programs, fueling tensions between students and in some sense isolating activities from one another. This environment combined with the few other places for teens to gather is only worsening the problem further.
Due to the increasing lack of youth centers and areas to hang out, school activities and programs are more important than ever. Extra curricula offer opportunities that usually tend to be cheaper than those in the community or with a separate organization and for some students that means easier access to what they might love and enjoy. With the lack of affordable options, CHS students are forced into a tight spot, stuck choosing between passions and what is affordable.
Budget cuts to any amount of student activities can have detrimental results to those at CHS, both students and instructors alike. The cuts combined with the uneven spread of wealth has led to the disappointing downfall of many programs- proving that even if $60,168 seems insignificant compared to the overall numbers, it makes a big difference.
