SCHSL set to hear ideas for competitive balance solutions. Here’s what we know
The South Carolina High School League’s executive committee will meet Tuesday to discuss proposals from the league’s competitive balance committee.
Those proposals are in response to trying to level the playing field for high school athletics in the state in an era where charter and private schools are having greater success in sports in the smallest S.C. classifications.
The ideas that will be discussed Tuesday are expected to include some combination of the following competitive balance concepts, according to documents obtained in an open records request made by The State.
▪ Out-of-zone multiplier: In this plan, SCHSL staff would use the 45-day enrollment data for students in grades 9-11 to order schools from largest to smallest. The league staff would add a multiplier of three for each student who lives outside of that school’s assigned attendance zone.
▪ Competitive balance factor: A sport-specific competitive balance factor for each school’s playoff and championship success the prior two years. Essentially, a team that has consistent postseason success is likely to move up in classification.
▪ Out-of-zone multiplier plus competitive balance factor: This would be a combination of the first two proposals and weigh success and an out-of-attendance-zone factor.
▪ New classification for private and charter schools: The SCHSL would develop regions while trying to accommodate geographic locations for each school in that region. The league, however, would create a separate classification that consists of member charter schools and private schools. (This is not an idea that charter and private schools support.)
▪ Enrollment tiers: This is a more-complicated model that is used in Ohio. According to the Ohio State Athletic Association, “a student’s tier is determined based on how the student came to your school. ... Tier 1 students have a multiplier of one and Tier 2 students have a multiplier of three for football and seven for the other sports.” Tiers are based on such things as student and parent residency, and the longevity of a student’s enrollment in a given district.
▪ Multi-factors reclassification model: This proposal would be based on scores from four different factors: school enrollment and location (near a big city), as well as poverty level of the student population and an out-of- attendance element.
What’s next?
It wasn’t immediately known if all six of those proposals will be presented to the executive committee Tuesday. It also wasn’t immediately known whether or not the committee will vote or express any public support for any one plan.
The timing of moving something forward, however, is important.
The league’s realignment process for the 2024-26 school years is under way. Realignment happens in the state every two years and is done to level the competitive playing field among schools. It can move teams up or down in classification based on enrollment changes.
The SCHSL will release its 2024-26 realignment plan to member schools in December. Schools then will have until January to submit any appeals. A finalized realignment after appeals will be done sometime in January.
The league’s subcommittee is one of three similar efforts currently dealing with the hot-button issue of competitive balance among South Carolina high school athletics. All of those efforts have at least some intent of discussing solutions for concerns about imbalance and competition in the state’s Class A and 2A classifications, where charter and private schools have had an arguably disproportionate amount of success in winning state championships in recent years.
This fall, private or charter schools have won state titles in Class A and 2A girls volleyball, Class A and 2A girls tennis, Class 3A boys and girls swimming, and Class 4A boys volleyball, which was a championship sanctioned sport for the first time with just two classifications.
In addition to the SCHSL’s own competitive balance committee, Gray Collegiate Academy principal Brian Newsome formed a committee on the same issue that’s comprised of school leaders and officials from a variety of classifications and sizes.
Newsome said proposals from his committee will be submitted to SCHSL member schools by the Dec. 31 deadline and be voted on in March at the league’s annual athletic conference.
A state House Education and Public Works Ad Hoc Committee has held three meetings regarding high school sports. Competitive balance is just one element of what that committee is discussing. Its ultimate goal is to form a list of recommendations, some of which could be considered and voted on when the next legislative session starts in January.
