Reminds me of how teachers here in MN use their own $$ for school classroom expenses...Ive got two first cousins who teach elementary school and the stories we hear are sad and incredulous.

Cricket wrote:

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/teddy-bridgewater-act-becomes-law-in-florida“Teddy Bridgewater Act” becomes law in FloridaLions quarterback Teddy Bridgewater took a break from playing in 2023 to become the coach at his former Miami high school. In 2024, Bridgewater stepped down after revealing that he had used his own money to cover expenses for his players — transportation, recovery, and pre-game meals.And while Bridgewater seems to be done, at least for now, with coaching, Florida has addressed the problem his situation highlighted.Via Andy Villamarzo of On3.com, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the so-called “Teddy Bridgewater Act” into law on Friday.The law allows middle-school and high-school head coaches to spend up to $15,000 of their own funds to support student-athletes with food, transportation and recovery services.The Florida Senate had passed the measure in February. As noted at the time, the law potentially opens Pandora’s box. How will anyone accurately track expenditures? And what’s to stop the coach from becoming the conduit for boosters to funnel more than $15,000 to players?Regardless, Florida has acknowledged the fact that there’s no harm in letting football coaches help their players. The question becomes whether the limit will be respected, or whether it will be abused in the name of chasing wins.

dont see any chances for impropriety here.....

I assume this is 15k annually, how many HS "coaches" can afford to do that out of pocket? So who is actually going to be funding this stuff, and who is going to be monitoring the dollars spent? I see HS quickly going the way of the NCAA, or maybe even worse.

He PF, I think we could better fund your elementary teachers classrooms if we just cut all funding of public school athletics, many sports have survived and even thrived without the involvement of the public school systems, its way past time to start putting all sports into the club/private sector.

The whole thing is so lame...punishing an authority figure for literally helping someone who needed help. Geeesh.

JimmyinSD wrote:

dont see any chances for impropriety here.....
I assume this is 15k annually, how many HS "coaches" can afford to do that out of pocket? So who is actually going to be funding this stuff, and who is going to be monitoring the dollars spent? I see HS quickly going the way of the NCAA, or maybe even worse.
He PF, I think we could better fund your elementary teachers classrooms if we just cut all funding of public school athletics, many sports have survived and even thrived without the involvement of the public school systems, its way past time to start putting all sports into the club/private sector.

^^^

Maybe Jimmy, I dont know enough to be dangerous about this tbh...I just hear the struggles in the classroom part and teachers stepping-up where they can.

I am deeply convicted though that we have our priorities wrong at the state and federal level. Schools are suffering, hospitals running red ink, rural hospitals closing, underpaid nurses etc..

And this isnt just an anti Trump rant, its been that way for a long time now..

Been a teacher for almost 40 years now in So. CA. now in Hawaii. Yes, we spend our money on things for students, it's just what we do. If a kid is hungry, we feed them, we wait after practices until their parent arrives, and USED TO give rides before the world got litigious.

With regard to the "sports" thing - You've gotta realize that for MANY kids, the reason they come to school, do their work in class, are BECAUSE of the extra curriculars like sports, band, choir, drama, art, Voc. Ed. programs. For a lot of kids "school" is the best part of their day. There's opportunities that they may not otherwise have & relate with their friends on a level that parents don't often go.

Kids are great. We can't rob them of their childhood & take creativity out of their lives.

Vanguard83 wrote:

Been a teacher for almost 40 years now in So. CA. now in Hawaii. Yes, we spend our money on things for students, it's just what we do. If a kid is hungry, we feed them, we wait after practices until their parent arrives, and USED TO give rides before the world got litigious.
With regard to the "sports" thing - You've gotta realize that for MANY kids, the reason they come to school, do their work in class, are BECAUSE of the extra curriculars like sports, band, choir, drama, art, Voc. Ed. programs. For a lot of kids "school" is the best part of their day. There's opportunities that they may not otherwise have & relate with their friends on a level that parents don't often go.
Kids are great. We can't rob them of their childhood & take creativity out of their lives.

Well said.

I guess I don't understand how one can differentiate between "Sending money to poor kids that need help" and "Sending money to best athletes that you want on your team"

I just don't really care that much, because money is making its way from rich people that want to see their teams win to these kids regardless. Hard to really get too upset over him being to dumb to do it in the approved way.

Vanguard83 wrote:

Been a teacher for almost 40 years now in So. CA. now in Hawaii. Yes, we spend our money on things for students, it's just what we do. If a kid is hungry, we feed them, we wait after practices until their parent arrives, and USED TO give rides before the world got litigious.
With regard to the "sports" thing - You've gotta realize that for MANY kids, the reason they come to school, do their work in class, are BECAUSE of the extra curriculars like sports, band, choir, drama, art, Voc. Ed. programs. For a lot of kids "school" is the best part of their day. There's opportunities that they may not otherwise have & relate with their friends on a level that parents don't often go.
Kids are great. We can't rob them of their childhood & take creativity out of their lives.

The money is supposed to be for education, when the discussions go to we dont fund education well enough ( 4th highest per student in the world) then it needs to be pointed out that sports costs are stupid high for the amount of kids that are able to participate. If cuts need to be made to better finance the classrooms, let's cut sports, hell they should have been cut long ago instead of the trades and home ec classes that felt the knife in most school systems at least they provided real world skills that would have provided an opportunity when those dreams of being a pro athlete are shattered. I understand that some kids are driven by sport, but I dont think the cuts at all the other areas while we build multi million dollar athletic facilities for amateur athletes is the best use of tax payer dollars ear marked for education, especially when we are seeing HS sports get infested by the same ugliness that is ruining the college level.

I sympathize with kids that come from situations that dont impress the need to be in school to build a better future for themselves, but I dont think we are seeing the return on investment from sports that we would with other programs getting those funds.

As far as Teddys deal, was he doing it for his kids, or was it a recruiting ploy to help attract better kids from other schools? I dont think he is a bad guy, but the lengths schools go to anymore to build better teams is sickening, how many kids are getting displaced on their school teams by those recruited from other districts, what keeps those kids coming to school? I just dont buy the narrative anymore that the costs justify the results.