Those driving through downtown Selma Saturday morning might find some routes slowed by runners participating in the annual Butterflies and Bridges Run, an event which goes to benefit the Selma City Schools and their athletic departments.

During a time of tightening school budgets, reduced federal and state funding and a broken model to generate local funds, school systems rely on the support of community events, fundraisers and parent-teacher organizations to help schools run each year.

And, when it comes to extracurricular programs such as sports and band, the support of parents, fans and the community is crucial to help keep the programs alive.

Although Selma City Schools and Dallas County Schools are not to the point yet, other systems have faced the very real possibility of shutting down extracurricular programs such as football, basketball, art, marching band and softball.

It’s not that these systems that face this decision find these programs unimportant, but these programs do not go to the core mission of teaching writing, reading and arithmetic.

With that said though, we would be quick to say these extracurricular events are what go toward helping to deepen the educational experience. These are the programs that help teach valuable life skills, develop artistic dreams and, in some cases, provide future educational opportunities classroom work alone may not provide.

So today, we commend the efforts of Selma City Schools’ athletic director Patrick Evans and run organizer Bill Potter, for their work in orchestrating the annual Butterflies and Bridges Run. We encourage as many as possible to join in Saturday to help in the full educational experience that’s always been afforded our young men and women.