The Randall High Athletic Booster Club, commonly known as the Raider Club, is attempting to raise greater funds for school athletics by increasing its membership.

The Raider Club is made up of parents and other adults involved in school athletics.  The goal of the club is to raise money for the school’s various athletic programs entirely separate from district athletic funding.  Fundraising comes through concession stand, ad and merchandise sales, as well as membership dues.   Membership is open to anyone at a yearly cost of $35 per family.  The Raider Club donated a total of approximately $50,000 to Raider athletics this past year.  Another $20,000 was also distributed to sports that participated in ad sales.  Still, Booster Club President Don Bowen said it is important for membership and funding to increase.

“We have really attempted to get the word out so we can increase membership size, and as a direct result, improve our financial position with new member dues,” Bowen said.  “With recent school funding cuts the Raider Club needs to step up and help with athletic funding so Raider athletics can continue for district and state championships.”

According to Bowen, there are over 1,000 athletes playing sports at Randall and Westover.  Still, the Raider Club has only around 130 members, meaning only 13 percent of families participate.  Bowen said if the Raider Club increased its membership from 130 to 1,000, funding would jump from over $4,500 to $35,000 on member dues alone.

“We could do a lot of good with that kind of money,” Bowen said.  “13 percent is terrible when you consider the quality of athletes and coaching staffs at Randall High School and Randall’s past athletic success.”

Despite allegations of funding allocation being unfair to smaller sports, Bowen said the Raider Club distributes its money as fairly as possible.  The main criterion for funding is the number of athletes in each sport.  CISD Athletic Director Brent McCallie said the district takes the same things into consideration when making the athletic budget.

“It comes down to need and number,” McCallie said.  “More students make for bigger needs and more money.”

Bowen said this was the fairest way to allocate funds.

“We were looking for the fairest way to allocate funds to each sport,” Bowen said.  “We felt like the athlete participation percentage was a good way to do so.  We determined the total amount of funds we could donate and then multiplied by the athlete participation percentage to determine the allocation for each sport. We did not totally tap out our funds so if sports have dire needs we can still offer assistance.  By using this method each sport received some money they could use in addition to what they receive from CISD in their individual athletic budgets.”

Still, the only surefire way to increase funding for all sports is for the booster club to increase membership.  Bowen said the athletic programs at Randall deserve better.

“Randall athletics have a rich history despite limited booster participation,” Bowen said.  “Imagine what we could have if we had good participation.”