Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Blake
Let me take an IMHO stab here... and risk getting flamed... lol
1. Texas RD's should work directly with school district superintendents that already have 1 or more FRC teams and urge the supers to convert them ALL to school district-wide teams that take ALL passionate students in their district, and can spawn into new teams as their rosters grow.
2. Texas RD's should contact and work with school district superintendents that DO NOT HAVE at least 1 FRC team in their district available to ALL students in that district. Those RD's should offer to do themselves and/or supply with others the necessary manpower for the first 2 seasons to get the FRC team formed and established.
3. The Texas RD's should provide a base-line financial commitment of a minimum of $10,000.00/year to ALL school district sanctioned teams during their first 4 years. This money could come from donations/corporate/government and filtered directly to the teams through the FIRST district's coffers _ONLY_ if these teams take the extra step and establish their own checking account. < $12,000.00/year would probably be better >
***You can't give $$ directly to a school/school district entity's checking account because it mostly becomes a black-hole of access to those funds for team use due to bureaucracy and the _dreaded_ team-killing Purchase Order process***
The Texas RD's should prioritize available funds to help these "golden-spike" school district sanctioned teams _first_... before moving to support financially the rookie teams that percolate up around Texas because of some EASY initial money available.
--Michael Blake
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This could definitely work. Given there are around 1,300 school districts in Texas. But possibly increasing the number of teams in Houston, DFW, San Antonio, and Austin could work due to the large potential for corporate sponsorship. (Something our team has a problem with in Central Louisiana)