Did the state constitution change? Last time I checked the paramount duty was to educate our children, not provide recreational opportunities.
The McCleary decision is the most recent in a long line of court decisions documenting the underfunding of education in this state. Your local district asks for levy dollars because the legislature is failing to live up to the state constitution. The budget update approved this session again failed to reduce class sizes (we continue to be 47th in the nation on this) - an issue the legislature's own commissioned independent research showed was vital to improving student learning. Additionally, the legislature again failed to fund the cost-of-living adjustment for your states' educators - an issue that the voters overwhelmingly approved in 2001. That means that most educators haven't seen a change in their pay since 2008, and will not see a possible change until 2015. So far, that racks up to over 15% less purchasing power.
Instead of balking that funding may be diverted away from areas like recreation (which I agree is important), why not search for a way to partner with education for greater recreational opportunities?
