Vashon public school administrators have tentatively decided to end middle school football and transfer the long-standing program to the Island’s nonprofit youth football club.

The administration also wants to stop funding three high school teams — golf, junior varsity baseball and third-string basketball — continuing the programs only if Vashon High School can support them with fees collected by the Associated Student Body and fundraisers held by parents and students.

Terry Lindquist, Vashon Island School District’s superintendent, said the cuts are necessary to help him close the district’s $1 million budget gap, the result of a significant drop in state funding for public education. The five-member school board supports the move, he added.

“I’ve got to make some cuts in co-curricular,” he said. “These were the least painful ones.”

Meanwhile, administrators at the 1,500-student district have agreed to take what amounts to a $20,000 pay cut, board chair Bob Hennessey said. And a fundraising effort launched a couple of weeks ago has brought in nearly $40,000; organizers at one point had hoped the effort — a request that all parents kick in $150 for every child they have enrolled in the school system — would raise more than $100,000.

The efforts reflect the myriad ways administrators and school board members are attempting to address what many say is the most serious budget crisis the district has faced in years.

“We’re looking for every way we can to preserve the core instructional program, and making hard choices is part of that,” said Bob Hennessey, who chairs the school board.

Ending the middle school football program, however, could actually improve scholastic football on Vashon, Lindquist and others said.

McMurray has long struggled to find coaches who can work after school, when the team practices. What’s more, the Mustangs often went up against teams from larger schools with far more players, placing the McMurray team at a disadvantage, Lindquist said.

Vashon Pirate Youth Football teams, on the other hand, practice in the evening, so it’s easier to recruit coaches, Lindquist said. The new seventh- and eighth-grade club will likely get to play more games and against similarly sized clubs. And the program coordinates well with the high school, where head football coach Clay Eastly said he expects the youth football club will help kids enter the high school team better prepared for the sport.

“I think it’s sad to see a sport leave the middle school, but I think football will be stronger in the long run with the youth program,” Eastly said.

Interscholastic sports at the middle school level are increasingly a rarity, Eastly added. The Seattle School District ended such teams several years ago, he said.

At the high school level, efforts are under way to see if private funding can keep alive the three teams slated to end, said Andy Sears, the head basketball and golf coach. Most promising is the golf team, he said; several individuals at the Vashon Island Golf & Country Club have stepped forward, offering to help support the team.

With the basketball C team and junior varsity baseball, the future’s more uncertain, he said.

Sears, a high school math teacher, said he understands tough calls have to be made and that teaching jobs are on the line. But he said he’d be sorry to see the high school lose sports teams, even those that are considered peripheral.

“I want as many kids as possible to play. I think we’ve got a good thing going on the golf team and the basketball team,” he said.