SC lawmakers seek to end high school sports transfer rule for private, charter schools
After a court prevented the S.C. High School League from restricting students who transfer into private or charter schools from participating in sports for a year, lawmakers want to make sure sports eligibility rules don’t change.
Lawmakers are considering attaching a provision to the state’s annual spending plan that will require the High School League to keep the rules it had in place in January 2020. The league helps govern public school athletics in the state.
In May, private and charter schools that are members of the High School League sued the league after it adopted a rule in March 2020 that prevented students from participating in sports for one year if they transferred in from another school district.
Even though the rule could have applied to any students, opponents said it was aimed at those private and charter schools. A court eventually issued a temporary injunction preventing the changes from going into place.
Under the rules adopted in March 2020, and blocked by the court, students who transfer from a traditional school to a charter or private school would have to sit out a year before they would be eligible to play on any athletic team. Students who transfer from outside of a school district would have to sit out a year before being able to participate in junior varsity or varsity athletics.
The league has rules in place that prevent students from participating in athletics for one year, if they transfer into a new school. However, there are exceptions to that rule, such as when an entire family moves to a new school attendance zone, or a student’s parents divorce and the parents establish residency in different areas.
The rule is in place is “so people won’t just change schools and go play sports wherever they want to. I’m assuming it creates some advantages,” said Jerome Singleton, the High School League commissioner.
He gave the example of a group of high tier athletes from a single county teaming up and deciding to play together at one school.
“These rules are made by the membership — they decide what it is,” Singleton said.
When asked about the proposed proviso, the term used for a temporary law passed in the state budget, the High School League didn’t push back.
“There’s no reaction. If that becomes the case, we’ll have to adhere to it,” Singleton said.
The proviso pushed by state Rep. Garry Smith, R-Greenville, seeks to ensure the high school league reverts back to the rules it had in place as of Jan. 1, 2020.
“This is meant to keep things as they have been for decades,” Smith said during recent meeting with a panel of lawmakers.
“It’s something we have been having to deal with for quite sometime with the High School League,” Smith said in an interview. “It seems like every time we turn around we’ve got another issue, that they’re self-inflicting a wound that we’ve got to try to fix.”
Reporter Lou Bezjak contributed to this article.
