It’s happening slower than most have hoped for, but Prince George’s County’s public high school’s are showing some progress when it comes to improving their athletic facilities.

It’s hard to tell when you look at the relatively quick progress being made in neighboring Montgomery County, but Prince George’s County Public Schools Director of Interscholastic Athletics Earl Hawkins said you can’t compare the two counties.

“We don’t operate the same,” Hawkins said. “We really don’t operate the same, and financially, I don’t know how they stack up to us, but I think they have more resources right now in terms of money.”

Montgomery County does have more financial resources than Prince George’s. MCPS allocated $7.8 million last fiscal year to its athletic programs, which represent about .35 percent of its $2.23 billion operating budget. In the same time frame, PGCPS allocated nearly $4.4 million to athletics, which is only .26 percent of the county’s $1.687 billion budget.

While unable to provide an average amount of money spent last year by each of the 22 high schools with varsity teams in Prince George’s, Hawkins said that each school received a $17,000 allocation for expenses, which he said they don’t have a lot of.

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