By Karen Gutierrez
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Money is so tight in the Beechwood school system that students are asked to donate cleaning supplies at the beginning of the year.

There are no school nurses. There is no funding for new math textbooks this fall. And voters already have approved several tax increases beyond the usual 4 percent a year.

Why, then, is $600,000 being spent to install artificial turf on Beechwood High School's football field this summer?

That's what some residents of the 1,000-student Fort Mitchell district want to know. Similar questions have arisen in other Tristate school systems as artificial turf becomes increasingly popular.

It never needs cutting or fertilizing. It never turns to mud. It can be used every day for all sorts of activities, from marching-band practice to elementary school recess.

Many synthetic turf projects, including Beechwood's, are funded entirely by private donations from athletic boosters. But school administrators are still finding themselves on the hot seat, forced to explain why they're getting new sports facilities when taxes are going up and academic programs are getting squeezed.

In Anderson Township this year, the Forest Hills School District agreed to accept - as a 100 percent gift from athletic boosters - artificial turf at Anderson High this fall. But one school board member voted against the project, saying he feared it would jeopardize the passage of future tax levies.

This spring, opponents of a tax increase in Fort Thomas did use the new turf at Highlands High School to question the district's priorities. The tax was narrowly approved.

"A lot of folks, try as you might, don't read the whole article," Fort Thomas Superintendent Larry Stinson said. "They just flat-out never knew (the turf) was all donated."

Others wondered why so much money - even if a gift - was going to sports instead of, say, science labs, Stinson said.

That's a philosophical question. Parents can donate to academic programs through the Fort Thomas Education Foundation, which has awarded $70,000 in grants to teachers over the last 21/2 years. Separately, Procter & Gamble has given about $10,000 to support the robotics team at Highlands, Stinson said.

But he wouldn't want the community to think that academics in general should be paid for by "special interest groups" of parents, as with the athletic boosters and synthetic turf. It's the responsibility of the entire community to support basic education, Stinson said.

The Beechwood system also has an education foundation, which makes gifts of about $25,000 a year to the schools. When the district added a new science lab to the high school in 2000, the foundation raised $50,000 to buy the equipment, President Carol Buckhout said.

But others have chosen sports as their cause.

"Everybody has goals in their life. Different people take different charities under their wing and decide to help the kids," says Beechwood parent Gene Daniels, who guaranteed a $300,000 loan to ensure that Beechwood's field would be completed this year.

Daniels owns Sports of All Sorts in Florence. "I'm in a position where I can do this, and that's why I decided to help," he said.

The boosters are still raising money so the debt will be paid off.

Daniels and Superintendent Fred Bassett also have approached the Fort Mitchell City Council about making a contribution, since the city's recreation programs will be able to use the new track and field and already use other facilities at Beechwood High School.

Several taxpayers whose children attend Catholic schools opposed the city making any "donation," and the council didn't act on the request. But it will come up again at the July 21 meeting, councilwoman Kathy Groob said. This time, the city will be asked simply to pay something for its use of Beechwood facilities.

"We're looking at it like, if they're going ahead with this field, we want to use it," Groob said.

The superintendent also has sent two letters to Beechwood parents this year requesting their donations for the turf. Earlier, parents received a different letter urging them to call their legislators about funding cuts to schools, said Sara Oliver, whose child attends first grade at Beechwood.

It doesn't seem right, she said - a new, $600,000 football field when the school can't afford an elevator to make the elementary school wheelchair-accessible.

"I'm not against the field," she continued. "I'm upset that they (students) are not going to get what they need."

E-mail kgutierrez@enquirer.com