Lawmakers sack proposal that would’ve allowed SCHSL to address charter school concerns
An effort intended to give the South Carolina High School League greater authority to deal with fair-play concerns regarding charter and private schools has failed.
On Thursday, S.C. lawmakers removed from the state’s annual budget a proviso that was meant to give the entity that governs public school athletics more power to address and affect competitive balance.
That proviso — or a one-year law — was crafted in response to charter and private schools dominating small-school athletics and because of criticism that they have a competitive advantage in how they operate differently than their public school counterparts.
The lawmakers’ decision means that proposal is dead, and it likely means any efforts to address the competitive balance concerns will have to wait until 2024.
The budget amendment was sponsored by state Rep. Russell Ott, D-Calhoun, who told The State on Friday he wasn’t surprised about Thursday’s vote — with Senate leadership voting 2-1 against keeping the proviso.
“I thought it had a 50-50 shot, but I know in talking with people it was going to be tough,” Ott said. “It is a shame. I know schools are frustrated, parents are frustrated and I’m sure the High School League is frustrated with it.”
As it stands, existing law prevents the S.C. High School League from making changes that directly target its charter and private school members. There are 219 SCHSL member schools split into five classifications. Of those, 15 are public charter schools and four are private schools. And there are new charter school members being added for the next two school years.
Two charters, Gray Collegiate Academy in West Columbia and Oceanside Collegiate in Mount Pleasant — along with the private schools that compete in the public league — have been increasingly dominant in sports in recent years. Critics say the charters that are sports-focused attract more and better athletes, build powerful teams and have an advantage in enrollment with what amounts to a statewide attendance zone.
And because they cap that enrollment, they compete for state championships against the smaller and traditionally rural high schools in Class 1A and Class 2A.
This school year, 13 of the 16 team fall and winter state championships in Class A and 2A were won by charter or private schools. Teams from Oceanside Collegiate won four more state titles this spring. Oceanside defeated Gray for both the 2A boys soccer and baseball championships.
The proviso that was removed Thursday said that “the interscholastic athletic association has the authority to make adjustments in the classifications to promote competitive balance.” The measure had passed through the S.C. House in May via a 64-46 vote. It wasn’t settled until Thursday’s conference committee meeting between the House and Senate regarding the final state budget.
It wasn’t immediately known what next steps, if any, the S.C. High School League would take to address to simmering issue.
The High School League on May 3 took the rare step of publicly asking for legislators’ help in changing state law. SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton issued a statement Friday on the proviso ruling.
“As always, the SCHSL is appreciative of any flexibility that allows it to explore opportunities to address competitive balance among all member schools. Given that (proviso ruling), the SCHSL will continue to use its current process in addressing competitive balance among all member schools,” Singleton wrote.
Realignment happens in the state every two years and is the main way the SCHSL currently can address competitive balance. But realignment can only move schools up or down in classification based on enrollment changes, and it doesn’t address any competition concerns with charter and private schools.
“It is unfortunate that the High School League will have no tools in the tool box now going into a realignment year,” Ott said.
Any change to the league’s constitution must be introduced by January of a given year and then go through a legislative process that culminates in a spring vote by high school league member schools. Any proposals for change would be initiated by the schools or from a school district and not from the SCHSL itself.
The two most-talked-about ideas for dealing with the competitive balance concerns have been:
▪ Moving the charter and private schools to their own classification and their own playoffs so they’re competing against each other for state championships.
▪ Enacting some sort of “multiplier” system that’s either based on athletic success or an enrollment factor that would make a school “play up” and into a higher classification and face tougher competition. Georgia, Tennessee and about 20 other states have some sort of multiplier system in place. Despite the multiplier in Georgia, private and city schools still won the majority of state championships during the school year.
Any attempts to shift charters and privates into their own class and their own playoffs would likely be met with litigation.
An existing S.C. proviso “guarantees that private or charter schools are afforded the same rights and privileges that are enjoyed by all other members of the association” and that participation cannot be restricted in “state playoffs or championships based solely on its status as a private school or charter school.”
Ott said lawmakers will continue to work on the issue.
The creation of the High School Athletics Ad-Hoc Committee was announced in May by state Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort. That committee in the coming months will hold “listening sessions to hear from the public about the current status of high school sports and how governance can be improved to better meet the needs of students and their families,” according to a news release.
— The State’s Dwayne McLemore contributed to this story
This story was originally published June 9, 2023 at 10:13 AM.
