State funding for disabled student athletes to be cut

Atlanta mom Narica Coggins says state officials should be the ones to break the news to her paraplegic son and his teammates about their grim prospects for playing wheelchair basketball and football next fall.

“I would like for them to appear, to speak to the kids in person and tell them why … why the kids aren’t worth the money,” she said.

Coggins’ son, 16-year-old Booker T. Washington High School junior Toraino Newton, and about 4,700 other disabled public school students in Georgia are involved in interscholastic sports through a nationally lauded program that is in danger of ending.

The non-profit American Association of Adapted Sports Programs was notified last week that it’s losing its major source of funding: $705,000 from the state Department of Education.

Founded in conjunction with Atlanta’s hosting of the 1996 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, the organization regulates and organizes competitive wheelchair basketball and other team sports for disabled students in much the same way the Georgia High School Association oversees high school sports.

A DOE official said Thursday the funding cut had nothing to do with the association’s performance, which has been recognized by Colin Powell and has fans that include former University of Georgia athletics director Vince Dooley.

“They provide a great service and run high-quality programs,” DOE spokesman Dana Tofig said.

But massive budget cuts have had to be made throughout the agency, Tofig said. “Our central office budget — which the AAASP contract is part of — was cut by $7.6 million, a reduction of about 18.5 percent.”

Tommie Storms, AAASP’s co-founder and director of operations, said the $705,000 cut amounts to 85 percent of the association’s annual funding and is a “catastrophic” blow to the organization and to programs in school districts that include the city of Atlanta and DeKalb and Gwinnett counties.

“We believe they [DOE officials] can’t, within their heart of hearts, realize what they did,” she said.

Storms said she expects anger about DOE’s cut to spark discrimination lawsuits and energize a push for federal legislation, guaranteeing the rights of disabled school athletes, similar to Title IX for girls.

“I just hope [state Superintendent] Kathy Cox is ready for this,” she said.

Some parents plan to appear at Wednesday’s state school board meeting hoping the funds will be restored.

Tofig said that could happen, “but I’m not aware of any plans at this time to reconsider.”

Dooley is among those lamenting the cut. His grandson, Matthew Dooley, has cerebral palsy and participates in several AAASP sports, including football at Oconee County High near Athens, where he is a rising freshman.

“I can certainly understand in tough economic times having to cut programs to some degree, but to almost totally eliminate athletic programs for the disabled is hard to understand,” Dooley said. “I know firsthand from experience with my grandson how important these programs are to the participants, and I’ve seen how the competition is a great source of pride and satisfaction.”