BERNE — Coordinating with two other districts, the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board is poised to adopt a spending plan with less than half of the original budget proposed to take over the Schoburg football program. And those involved have floated the idea of dropping Schoharie from the team.

Schoharie, the district that has hosted practices, has declined to put any of its money in, nullifying a resolution passed by the other two districts — Berne-Knox-Westerlo and Duanesburg — to spend $25,000 each to start a district-run football program. Its board didn’t even have the two members necessary to bring it up for a vote.

A varsity team functioned under an agreement last year that merged the three districts for Section II. But superintendents at the three districts this year proposed resolutions to their school boards to effectively move the team from the volunteer-run, donation-funded operation it is now to one that uses paid coaches and district-owned equipment.

“All along, we were looking to bring to our board the desires of boards and superintendents of other school districts,” said Robert Bonaker, Schoharie’s superintendent for business, of he and Schoharie’s interim superintendent. “We never took a stance.”

The Schoharie School Board, he explained, had cut out its junior varsity sports funding becase of the sharp decrease in state aid just a few years ago, but a booster club kept the teams alive, raising tens of thousands of dollars.

“I think some of the board members were saying, if all of a sudden we’re going to spend money on a sport that has not existed in Schoharie since 1975, what does that say to the boosters who supported junior-varsity sports and other sports?”

Leaving Schoharie behind and staying with district funding isn’t the only option. The program could possibly revert to the volunteer program that it has been. Roger Tidball, who has been assistant head coach for the volunteer program, hopes Schoharie will change its stance.

“There’s support on the board to continue the program in some fashion,” said Duanesburg’s board President Kent Sanders. “So the question is, ‘How does that get accomplished?’”

BKW and Duanesburg are proposing budgets to voters, each with just $10,000 for football, though BKW’s budget wasn’t adopted by the board before press time. As BKW’s school board was hashing out the final details of its budget, board member Earl Barcomb suggested the money that was taken away from the football budget be spent partly on the school musical.

“Such a large percentage of the school is involved in the musical,” said Barcomb.

A football budget of $20,000 between the two districts would pay for three coaches for the varsity and modified teams, and pay for maintaining the program’s equipment, travel, referees, and miscellaneous expenses, according to Tidball.

If stipends are offered, members of the teachers’ union typically get first refusal, if they’re qualified for a coaching position. Tidball said, if it comes to that, he and Ken Meyer, who served as head coach for the volunteer-run team, hope to be able to nonetheless continue as volunteer coaches.

Filling the roster, which should have around 25 students, would be tough with just two districts, Tidball said.

With more players on the team, Tidball said, “You could say, OK you’re going to play every other series of offense, because the other guy’s just as good as you. It reduces wear and tear on the kids. It reduces injuries, just like any sport.”

If Schoharie doesn’t continue with the other two districts, the team will have to look at changing the name, Schoburg, said Tidball, who is also the supervisor for the town of Duanesburg.

“I’m sure it’s going to be something along the lines of Duanesburg/BKW,” he said, “and maybe a new mascot name.”