KSHSAA recommends utilization of multiplier formula for private school classification

When the Kansas State Board of Education meets on Tuesday and Wednesday in Topeka, it will consider a proposal brought forth by the state activities association that would impact private schools sanctioned to compete against their public school counterparts.

The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) will bring to the board of education meeting a recommendation to utilize a multiplier formula when counting the enrollment of private schools for classification in sports and activities.

The proposal, if ultimately enacted, would apply to 28 private schools across the state, including Topeka’s Hayden High School and Cair Paravel Latin School.

How the proposal to utilize a multiplier formula for KSHSAA athletics came to fruition

Motivated primarily by a few private schools that have dominated high school sports over the years, some public schools have long advocated for a different calculation of private school enrollment.

Previous attempts to come up with a formula to do so have failed to get much traction. But the current proposal – crafted by a KSHSAA work group – was approved by KSHSAA’s Board of Directors last April, then passed a vote of all member schools in June.

The next hurdle the proposal faces is the board of education, a ten-member panel with much more than just sports and activities under its purview.

The board, which controls the Kansas State Department of Education, will consider applying three criteria to the classification of private schools when calculating their enrollment.

Arriving at a proposal Kansas schools could agree upon required a long, deliberate process that drew input from students and representatives of private schools, according to KSHSAA Assistant Executive Director Jeremy Holaday.

“We assembled a Classification Study Committee that met virtually a few times initially and then a couple of times at our office,” Holaday said. “From the most recent survey sent out to schools, there was a clear direction given by a simple majority vote from schools that said KSHSAA needs to develop a new classification system using a multiplier to classify private schools.

"That committee was put together with that directive. They said, ‘This is the directive our schools have given us. Let’s put our heads together to do it the most sensible way representing everyone fairly.'”

The push for a change to the classification of private schools is not new, Holaday said.

“This was all put in motion by a proposal at a board of directors agenda item years ago,” Holaday said. “And that proposal was pretty simple.

"It just said, ‘KSHSAA classify member schools based on a multiplier system for private schools.’ And that proposal passed. So when that proposal passed, it set this all in motion. Then it was ‘Ok, how do we do this?’”

Finally this summer, a three-factor multiplier formula gained sufficient support to move forward. The proposal requires board of education approval because it would alter a KSHSAA by-law.

It would then require approval by the state legislature because KSHSAA is currently required by state law to use a flat enrollment figure as the sole determining factor for high school classification.

What the proposal entails

Under the proposed plan, KSHSAA would look first and foremost at a ‘success factor.’ If a school wins more than 10 championships over a five-year period, it would automatically have .3 added to its count of each student. Those with five to nine championships would have .15 added.

If that success factor is not triggered, then the other two factors would not be applied.

The second factor to consider is geographic location. If a private school is located in an area that includes a Class 5A or 6A school, .3 would be applied to the private school’s count of each student.

The rationale is that cities have resources that benefit private schools, not to mention that athletes at big schools might be recruited to play at private schools. In towns that include a 3A or 4A school, private schools would have .15 tacked onto their count.

Thirdly, private schools with less than 20 percent of enrolled students receiving free or reduced lunches would have .15 added to their multiplier.

Holaday noted that private schools that don’t offer free and reduced lunches have a different formula that produces socio-economic basis for classification.

Holaday said the idea of using championships as the primary trigger came from a student.

“Initially, it was to consider the geographic part, then the success part, and then the socio-economic part,” Holaday said. “We were talking with our student-advisory board, which consists of 12 students from across the state. One of them spoke up and said ‘Hey, if a private school is never successful, why would we bump them up?’ We said ‘That’s a good point.’

So we decided to move the success criteria to the top factor. If you don’t reach this success factor, then we won’t even submit you to the next two factors.”

Much of the motivation for the change is derived from class domination

Because success is now the trigger factor, the policy would not currently affect Hayden or Cair Paravel, neither of which has won five team championships in the past five years.

State Board of Education Member Deena Horst represents the board’s District 6, which geographically includes Hayden and Cair Paravel. Horst will take her third look at the proposal at the August board meeting.

Horst explained why she voted in favor of the multiplier once, then voted against it at a later opportunity.

“I am one of the state’s boards reps to the KSHSAA Board of Directors and sit on the Executive Committee,” Horst said. “Both of those entities have voted on this proposal.

"I voted ‘yes’ once and I voted ‘no’ once. I voted ‘yes’ to allow the Board of Directors to vote, because the Executive Committee is a pretty small component of a much larger board.

"But then when the Board of Directors voted, I voted ‘no’ because it only targets the private schools.

“We do have some public schools who have won championships on a regular basis, such as Derby and a few 5A schools. It seems a little unfair to just focus on one group.”

Horst noted that much of the motivation for this policy change is derived from Bishop Miege’s domination in the 4A classification.

Miege has won 20 team championships in the past five years, despite a number of activities being canceled in the spring of 2020.

Horst said she has attended the 4A basketball championships in her hometown of Salina and witnessed firsthand the Stags’ destruction of their opponents in both the boys and girls brackets.

The Miege girls have won 23 basketball titles. They won their third straight state title in March. Their margin of victory in the state semifinal and final contests the past three years is 24.2 points per game.

This year, the Miege boys defeated Hayden in the 4A state semifinal en route to their seventh title since 2001 and third in the past five years.

“It’s really kind of sad because you see these other schools be very successful in their various leagues,"Horst said. "And then they come here and it’s kind of a given that Bishop Miege is going to walk away with it all.

“They don’t just sort of beat them. They beat them badly.

"There is a concern about the way they do things that makes them sort of like Sunrise Academy in Wichita. (Bishop Miege) is almost like an academy rather than a school. A lot of their kids are going to be playing at (a high level in college).

“It’s basically the 4A schools that were unhappy. I’ve received communication from Bishop Miege basically saying ‘Let us just move up to 5A.’ But the 5A schools don’t want them either because they are beating 6A schools on a regular basis.”

KSHSAA changes to school classifications if the proposal passes

Holaday explained that enrollment counts, which are submitted annually in mid-September, are not applied across the board to all sports and activities.

Football, for instance, is reclassified only every other year. Some fall sports utilize the count from the previous year, and some sports only count freshmen, sophomores and juniors.

KSHSAA publicizes a list each year which Holaday noted applies accurately to basketball, but is used as a general guide to classifications.

Holaday said that the top three classification groups must include 36 schools. The 3A and 2A classes include 64 schools. 1A takes the rest. Holaday said under the new proposal, if a school is bumped up due to the multiplier, the bottom school in the class would drop down.

According to KSHSAA, utilizing last year’s enrollment figures, St. James Academy, St. Thomas Aquinas, Bishop Carroll and Kapaun Mt. Carmel would all move up to 6A, pushing Hutchinson, JC Harmon, Liberal and Wichita West down to 5A.

Bishop Miege would move up to 5A, pushing Piper down to 4A. Wichita Collegiate would move up to 4A with Concordia sliding down to 3A. Kansas City Christian and Wichita Independent would move up to 3A with Frontenac and Rossville dropping down to 2A.

No changes would be made in 1A.

Holaday said the KSHSAA state office in Topeka will do the bidding of its member schools at the board of education meeting.

“We like to say that we are the people charged to interpret and carry out the will of the member schools,” Holaday said. “We’ll present testimony at the directive of our schools in favor of the proposal. The general public will talk, and we’ll be there to listen and answer questions.”

Horst said that while the Kansas State Board of Education has not heard a multiplier proposal in her 10 years on the board, it is not a new concept. She said the members are prepared to give the topic a fair hearing.

“When we meet, we definitely need to hear both sides of the story, so to speak,” Horst said. “We need to hear what kind of issues that set up private schools and we need to hear why the proposal was made in the first place.

We need to hear the frustration that parents and the folks who work with kids at school feel.”

Horst noted that the proposal’s last hurdle won’t be a rubber stamp, should it pass the board.

“This requires the legislature to change the statute to allow KSHSAA to make the change,” Horst said. “I’m not sure the legislature is ready to give up that kind of power.”

Holaday summed up the process by taking the long view, noting that changes could potentially be made to the proposal.

“The private/public school debate is something that has been going on for decades. Whether the current proposal goes through and gets put in place or not, it will continue to be discussed,” Holaday said. “But at the present time, the member schools have put forth this proposal for the association, and we’re going to take it through the proper channels to see if the powers that be want it as well. If they do, then we’ll put it in place. I’m sure there will be some tweaks along the way.”

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: KSHSAA proposal could affect private schools vs. public schools sports