A lot of parents have expressed fear and reservations about Portland Public Schools’ proposal to switch from individual booster clubs for each sport to just one booster club at each high school.

But if other communities’ experiences with a one-booster system are any indication, Portland has little to worry about.

Nearly half of the schools in the state have one-booster systems, according to the Maine Principals’ Association. And of the five schools and districts contacted for this story that use the one-booster system, all raved about the results.

The one-booster system provides more equitable opportunities for all students, cuts down on the district’s liability, fosters more multi-sport athletes and creates more school pride, officials from those schools said.

Students shouldn’t get worse training facilities, cheaper varsity jackets, or less swanky year-end banquets just because they enjoy playing a lower-profile sport more than a higher-profile sport, said Gwen Bacon, co-principal at Messalonskee High School.

“Everybody’s passions are different,” said Bacon, whose school district uses a one-booster system. “A cross-country runner should have the same types of opportunities as football players. And our students really appreciate that they all have those same opportunities.”

The proposed policy change in Portland’s school district is a response to potential Title IX violations, a federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in athletics. Last year, the school district’s law firm, Drummond Woodsum, issued a report criticizing shoddy bookkeeping and possible gender inequities in sports at Portland’s high schools.

Although the district is likely in compliance with Title IX, it is difficult to know because the district has kept such poor financial records on its booster clubs, the report said. Some booster clubs submit detailed financial reports, while others submit little or no information.

That makes it difficult for school officials to know how much money is being spent by each team, what that money is being spent on, and whether there are inequities between boys’ and girls’ sports.

In one example cited by the report, Portland High’s baseball team plays at Hadlock Field, a professional baseball stadium built for the Portland Sea Dogs. The school’s softball team, meanwhile, plays at Payson Park, with no bathrooms or changing rooms.

The federal Office of Civil Rights is currently reviewing Portland High’s records to determine whether any Title IX violations have occurred.

School officials said by having one booster club at each school, maintaining compliance and having accountability will be easier.

“From an administrative standpoint, it’s easier to manage,” said Mike McCullum, the co-curricular activities director at Portland High School. “We can make sure our financial reports are clear, and follow school policy and federal laws. The No. 1 goal is to just clean up a bit.”

In addition to cutting down liability, the policy change is also a response to the economic hardships facing many school districts, including Portland’s. In hard times, sports and extracurricular activities are often on the chopping block during budget season, officials said. The first to go likely would be the lower-profile sports and smaller extracurricular clubs.

But that could hurt the school academically, too. Grades among the city’s high school students are an average 8.8 points higher if they participate in sports and extracurricular activities, according to a report last year by the Red and Blue Foundation, a consultant hired by the district to study the issue. “These aren’t frills or extra,” said school board member Jaimey Caron. “This has an academic component that’s vital to us.”

But school officials’ arguments haven’t necessarily persuaded parents and boosters. Booster Kirk Murchie compared having one pot of money for all sports to a “welfare state,” and said it’s “unfair” that someone could raise money and it not go to the sports they care about.

Others said parent participation in fundraising would drop if the district couldn’t guarantee the money they raised would go to their particular child’s activities.

Gary Hoyt, the athletic director at Cheverus High School, which also has a one-booster system, said that may be true initially. But eventually, the parents will realize that by communally raising money for one cause — the entire school — all students will benefit.

“All the money we raise, we raise in the name of Cheverus,” Hoyt said.

Portland would likely base its model on Cheverus. But, of course, there are no apples-to-apples comparisons. Cheverus is a private school. And Portland is the state’s largest public school district, so no one in the state has implemented a one-booster system on a scale this size.

The most apt comparison, at least size-wise, may be the Nashua, N.H., school district. Like Portland, Nashua has two high schools that play sports, with one booster club at each high school.

Even Nashua, however, has differences. Their booster clubs focus on raising money to provide student-athletes with college scholarships. A third booster club, not affiliated with either high school, raises money for the day-to-day sports operations.

Even so, Nashua assistant athletic director Scott Insignia said the one-booster system has advantages that would translate to Portland if the school district decided to adopt it.

Like Hoyt, he said it helps build school pride and a “community” environment. Also, because parents involved in the school’s one booster club participate throughout the year and are involved in many sports, they expose their children to more sports. This has led to more multi-sport athletes.

Nashua had 20 seniors receive awards this past year from the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association for playing three sports a year for all four years of their high school career. That’s a very high number, Insignia said.

“With individual booster clubs, parents usually just pack up at the end of the season, and you don’t see them again until the next year,” he said. “It’s not like that here. They’re always there.”

All school officials, however, said there’s no right answer. Since school districts across the state succeed with both systems, both are viable.

It comes down to preference, and whether or not a district can motivate parents to participate, they said.

McCullum, of Portland High, said by giving more people in the lower-profile sports access to money, he hopes to motivate more of them to participate in fundraising, which could raise more money for everyone in the school, from football and basketball to golf and track.

“That’s the philosophy,” he said. “The hope is to elevate everyone’s opportunities. We don’t know if it will work like that, but that’s the idea. Time will tell.”

Jason Singer can be reached at 791-6437 or:

jsinger@pressherald.com