COLUMBUS, Ohio – The governing body of Ohio’s high school sports is again asking its member schools to level the playing field.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association approved a proposal from its Competitive Balance Committee that changes how schools are placed in tournaments in team sports. The plan is similar to a proposal that member schools voted down last spring.
In addition to the size of a school’s enrollment, the proposal calls for new modifying factors — based on where an athlete lives and their history of attendance within an educational system – that may be applied to students on each roster on a sport-by-sport basis.
If it passes, the proposal is expected to take effect for the 2016-17 school year.
The OHSAA has been struggling to find a way to close the competitive gap between public schools and private schools, which tend to dominate high school tournaments without splitting into separate tournaments.
The new measure would be in force for football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball if it is approved by high school principals in a referendum.
The plan put forth by the 27-member committee requires schools to submit team rosters, accompanied by additional information, of student-athletes from grades 9 through 12 to the OHSAA.
Students in public schools will be subject to modifying factors if their parents do not live in the district or the student has not been continuously enrolled in the district since seventh grade. Private school students will be subject to the same modifying factors if they did not attend that school’s designated “feeder” system continuously since seventh grade or “have not been continuously enrolled in the same system of education,” according to a statement from the OHSAA.
The OHSAA’s 825 member schools will vote on the proposal between May 1 and May 15.