S.C. High School League votes to expand to five classes

The Executive Committee of the S.C. High School League on Tuesday elected to move to a five-classification system in all sports by a 10-5 vote.

The change would take effect in the 2016-17 school year, and the SCHSL’s staff will present the committee with a final plan for the alignment of classifications and regions in September.

“It’s a change, there’s new opportunities and new challenges that go along with it,” commissioner Jerome Singleton said. “We welcome it. South Carolina gets it right most of the time and we’ve got a great membership that works together.”

It is the first expansion of the state’s classification system in almost 50 years. According to the League’s Palmetto’s Finest record book, the first Class 4A competitions were held during the 1968-69 school year.

Facing concerns about disparity of resources between the largest and smallest schools in each of the current four classifications, representatives from each class had proposed expanding the number of classifications during this year’s realignment process.

According to representatives on the Executive Committee, the memberships of Class A and 2A were in favor of the five classification plan. The committee considered going to six classifications, but that motion was defeated 8-7. A hybrid 6A-5A system, in which 5A and 6A teams would compete interchangeably in region, was considered but not brought to vote.

“With five or six classes, you have a more level playing field,” Singleton told the committee, also noting that smaller numbers in each classification would make it easier to limit the number of teams in the playoffs. He said the change possibly would cause logistical travel difficulties for some schools, as smaller regions could force some school to travel to far-flung opponents in region competition.

Committee member Darryl Nance said his main concern was that a school such as Hartsville, enrollment 1,399, should not be playing Wando, a 3,551-student school. Those teams are currently the smallest and largest, respectively, in the 52-team Class 4A. In the five classification system, Wando would move to 5A, while Hartsville likely would remain in Class 4A.

The 208 member schools would be separated into classifications based on 135-day average enrollment figures provided by the state department of education in mid-May. The committee made no stipulations that the classifications have an equal number of schools, or set specific ranges for enrollment figures in any of the classes. Singleton said the League will allow for suggestions on where the lines should be drawn.

The league would use that input to develop a realignment plan that would be presented in August, open for appeal, and then submitted to the executive committee for final approval, likely in September.

Under the 5A system, there also will be five football state championships, instead of the current seven – which includes two divisional championships in Classes 4A, 3A and 2A.

The committee also decided to set aside an amendment, passed by the Legislative Assembly in March, that would require all non-public schools in the league – such as Bishop England, Christ Church and West Columbia’s Grey Collegiate Academy – to play up one classification from what is indicated by their enrollment figures.

Singleton said it is possible that under the 5A system, some of those private schools might be moving up a classification anyway.

This story was originally published April 21, 2015 at 5:11 PM with the headline "S.C. High School League votes to expand to five classes."