In the city of Mobile, there are 17 different high schools, all of which field athletic teams. That means that in Mobile, there are 17 different school zones from which those high schools draw students and student-athletes. Each school’s athletes come from one of those 17 distinct zones, and it is against state rules for a student who resides in one zone to attend a school in another zone.
But if you operate a private school in Mobile, you can have your pick of students and student-athletes from any of the 17.
There is no better example of the competitive advantage that private schools hold over the public school counterparts. It is why the Alabama High School Athletic Association has implemented rules, such as the competitive balance factor, to level the playing field.
Those rules have often caused rifts between the public and private school members of the AHSAA. And they likely would have been this year too. But then the politicians got involved.
Last week, the AHSAA announced that it was taking the drastic step to split the association and separate public and private schools for competition. It was, according to those close to the process, a decision made after private school members refused to budge on several demands, such as eliminating the competitive balance factor (which pushes teams into a higher classification after two consecutive appearances in the state championship games), the student multiplier (which counts private school students at 1.35 for classification purposes) and a requirement that transfer students sit out a year.
Tired of the whining and threats, including those coming from self-interested politicians in Montgomery who already had a bill in the works to restructure the association, the AHSAA board decided to take the only pathway it had left.
It is a shame that it came to this, because it didn’t have to be this way. And to be fair, it’s also a decision that doesn’t necessarily solve all of the problems.
But then, that’s what happens when politics leaks into sports. You should all know by now that a politician only makes a grand case out of something if he or she thinks the action proposed will make them slightly more popular with the hometown voters.
There’s ranting. There’s raving. There’s inevitably a threat to make the AHSAA do something, or even to restructure the AHSAA.
Here’s a little secret: None of them have the authority to do anything.
The AHSAA was established by a federal court decree and the Alabama Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized its right to operate as an independent, private organization that is governed by that federal court order. Every time a challenge to an AHSAA ruling has landed before the ALSC, it has typically taken minutes for it to be booted.
But let’s also be clear about something else: The AHSAA isn’t an organization made up of mysterious decisionmakers who meet in a smoky back room to deal out unfair rulings to hurt kids.
The entire board is made up of coaches, principals, school superintendents and athletic directors. Most of them have been involved in high school athletics in this state for decades. They come from all over the state – each district is represented – and are typically some of the most well known, well liked and respected people in their respective towns. I’d almost guarantee you that few, if any, would quibble with the character or experience with any of the individual members.
But put ‘em together and call them the AHSAA and suddenly people can be led to believe that there’s an ulterior motive out there.
The biggest problem the AHSAA actually has is not doing a good job of reminding people just who sits on its board, reminding them that they know these folks. And they do a flat awful job of letting people see the inner workings when important, controversial decisions need to be made.
A little sunlight on that room would save a lot of heartburn.
It would definitely help out in this situation, although I get a sense that even without that access the general public has landed firmly on the side of the AHSAA and the public schools. People generally don’t like it when someone gets an unfair advantage, and that’s exactly how they see what’s been happening of late with private schools. (It’s also another reminder that had the CHOOSE Act been placed on a ballot, it would have failed spectacularly.)
That CHOOSE Act is where this all started. The voucher program that gives private schools $7,000 per student from public school dollars would have also allowed those private schools to recruit the best athletes to their schools and use public tax dollars to pay for the cheating. The AHSAA, though, has a transfer rule in place that requires any athlete transferring from a public school to a private in the same zone sit out one year.
The AHSAA didn’t budge on the rule. And rightfully so.
The dopes in the legislature were about to open up the Alabama high school transfer portal. If they got their way, not only could that private school in Mobile recruit from all 17 districts, it could do so without a one-year sit-out rule and take money from the local public schools to pay for the athlete they just stole.
It was an absurdly unfair proposal. But that didn’t stop the politicians, who were pandering to their wealthy donors.
From there, things snowballed. Before long, some of those same politicians had convinced a large group of private school leaders that they could force the AHSAA to roll back other rules.
So, the AHSAA board just washed its hands of the whole mess and split public and private.
It’s a shame, really. Because most of this could be solved amicably and without a lot of upheaval. A simple transfer request granted by an athlete’s coach from the school from which he or she is transferring would solve nearly every CHOOSE Act transfer. Tweaking the competitive balance rule and killing the student multiplier would likely solve the rest.
But we can’t have that now because politicians got involved.
