First look: New bill would overhaul who runs high school sports in South Carolina

Members of the South Carolina Legislature say they’re moving forward with crafting a bill that would radically change how high school athletics is managed in the state and take another approach to addressing competitive balance.

Two weeks after the S.C. High School League adopted a new multiplier rule to help address fair play concerns at the 1A and 2A levels, state lawmakers on Thursday revealed they’re going to file a bill that, among other things, addresses the same issue.

Yet, the most sweeping change in that proposed legislation would move the governance of high school sports away from the SCHSL and to a newly formed state agency that would operate as part of the Department of Education.

State Rep. Shannon Erickson, chairwoman of the House Education and Public Works Committee, discussed details of the bill on Thursday at a meeting of an ad hoc committee on high school athletics. The committee was formed in May and has met several times this fall and winter 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.”

“This is a draft. This is a starting point. It is not an end result,” Erickson said during the meeting. “This is the beginning of the conversation, which is way more than we were afforded from our High School League when they voted on a multiplier without them sharing with this committee or members.”

Last month, the SCHSL executive committee voted 12-4 to approve an out-of-zone multiplier, a formula that will take each student who lives outside of a school’s assigned attendance zone and count them as three for total enrollment purposes. Such a move is expected to inflate a school’s official enrollment figure and — in some cases — raise that school up a level or two in classification for athletics.

The landmark decision to add a multiplier is largely in response to competition concerns in the state’s Class 1A and 2A classifications, where charter and private schools have had an arguably disproportionate amount of success in winning state championships in recent years.

“I congratulate them (SCHSL) on the stand on the issue, but I say the stand is inherently the wrong direction,” Erickson said. “It will cause, I believe, unintended consequences of putting students in non-competitive teams against the competitive teams. ... A multiplier that goes to three without any conversation about or data I am aware of. And the High School League didn’t sign up today to speak to us and explain any of this. So I am moving forward with a draft document.”

The S.C. High School League — a public entity but not a state agency — has managed athletics here for more than 100 years.

“I think we need to move forward in our thinking,” Erickson said. “We have done things the same way for 100 years. I think we can do better.”

Key points of the bill, which calls for the the creation of the South Carolina High School Athletic Association, is technically in draft status and not yet filed or finalized:

▪ An eleven-member board of directors will be appointed by various members of the S.C. government. Members will serve four-year terms. “A member of the board may not be currently employed as an athletics director, coach, principal, superintendent, or other school leader.”

▪ “The board of directors shall employ a director and other staff as necessary to carry out the duties and responsibilities assigned by the board.”

▪ “Some of the duties of the board include establishing a multiplier system for the purpose of classification that takes into account a school’s geographic location, student population, and performance in each sport in which it participates.”

▪ The bill would allow for a one-time transfer for students. “For students enrolled in middle school, the association shall allow a one-time transfer after eligibility is established in the seventh grade. For students enrolled in high school, the Association shall allow a one-time transfer after eligibility is established in the ninth grade.”

The already-approved multiplier formula is being used immediately as part of the S.C. High School League’s realignment process that’s expected to result in a revamped look for the state’s five classifications — with a public charter school such as Gray Collegiate moving from 2A up to 3A or 4A for athletic competition. The multiplier will be applied to all SCHSL members, not just the charter and private schools.

Those new classifications would go into effect by January and be in place for the 2024-26 school years.

The state legislative session begins in January, meaning this new high school sports bill is likely months away from being debated. The bill’s existence will add uncertainty to an issue most observers thought was settled with the High School League’s decision.

Deadline to pre-file a bill is Dec. 14. Erickson wasn’t sure if the bill will be ready by then and didn’t want to “rush the process.” Whether it can pass through the House and Senate, and how much support this major change would receive, remain to be seen.

In an informal survey by The State on Friday of 20 athletic directors around the state, all but one said they don’t want to shift the governance of athletics away from the S.C. High School League.

“I want whatever will enforce policies in place,” one Midlands athletic director told The State in response to the survey.

Newberry High athletic director Chad Cary, who also attended Thursday’s committee meeting, is among those who are against state government taking over high school sports.

“It is disappointing,” Cary said. “Is the league perfect? No. But we are trying to get it fixed.

“... The multiplier fixes things across the board. Does it make it perfect? No. But it is the only thing that makes it fair.”

SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton attended Thursday’s meeting but told The State at the football championships later that evening he hadn’t seen a draft of the committee’s bill yet and didn’t want to comment. He added that he had no knowledge that the bill was going to be presented at the meeting.

If the bill becomes law, South Carolina wouldn’t be the first state to have its government involved with running high school sports.

In October, the N.C. Legislature passed a bill that would strip some of the power away from the N.C. High School Athletic Association and give it to the state government.