"I know this is Texas and it is football country but do they really need three 7th grade teams, three 8th grade teams, two freshman teams, a Sophomore team, a JV team and a Varsity team? Seems a bit...much to me."
Agreed. Typically, the policy of all schools has been to not cut any students wanting to play football. With fund limitations, that simply may not be possible now. And those C level games for 7th and 8th probably need to go away anyway. Schools will do what they can afford, so that means most likely fewer sv level games. Officiating fees are small potatoes in the big scheme of things, but having extra coaches, travel and electrical expenses are big factors.
Is it just me, but when I played in high school, we had about 6 or 7 coaches that covered everything. That was a 3A school, but still, we didn't need the 20 they have these days. I look over at the sidelines now during a 5A game and I could swear they have about 30 coaches standing around. That really does not seem necessary.