A Question of Priorities: Athletic Budgets and Academic Performance

Objective. Many organization theories suggest that divergent goals can hamper an organization’s pursuit of its primary mission. This study analyzes the effect of the pursuit of divergent goals on American public schools. Methods. Using an educational production function, this paper assesses the relationships between athletic budgets and various aggregate measures of academic performance. Results. Controlling for various known components of academic performance, athletic budgets have a significant negative relationship with academic performance. Conclusions. Schools that devote a large amount of resources to athletic budgets have lower levels of academic achievement. A focus on athletics seems to institutionalize goals that conflict with the schools’ academic missions.