The Ohio High School Athletic Association is charged with regulating the state’s interscholastic sports competition, but its latest competitive balance referendum on the table seems to say to students, administrators and coaches: buff up on your math skills.
The OHSAA has tried for years to address a complaint of many coaches, parents, players and fans— that private schools have an unfair advantage because they pull from multiple school districts.
It was 11 months ago that the OHSAA averted a potential seismic shift in the way state titles are determined by pulling a referendum to put public and private schools in separate tournament divisions.
Although it remains unclear whether the referendum would have passed, recent history shows that principals are leaning that way.
The next referendum drafted would have required the major boys and girls team sports — football, basketball, soccer, baseball, volleyball and softball — to submit rosters that would apply multipliers to certain kinds of student-athletes, like ones who lived in another school district.
It was narrowly rejected.
“Had 10 schools voted the other ways (it would have passed),” said Daniel B. Ross, the OHSAA commissioner in a conference call with reporters. “We surveyed the principals, talked to our schools, and the interesting part was that the No. 1 issue that the OHSAA should be dealing with is competitive balance. It was four times greater than the next issue, eligibility and transfers.”
The current referendum on the table will be voted on in May by the state’s 825 high school principals, including the 10 in Geauga County.
It is similar to the previous attempt.
What’s Proposed
Schools will be in one of three categories: public schools with a single high school; public schools with multiple high schools; and non-public schools.
Geauga County has no public schools with multiple high schools. It has eight public schools with one high school (Kenston, Ledgemont, Cardinal, Berkshire, West Geauga, Chagrin Falls, Chardon, Newbury) and two non-public schools (Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin and Hawken).
When determining which division each sport will compete in, each school will start with its boys and girls enrollment numbers in grades 9, 10 and 11.
For instance, Chardon has 404 girls in those grades.
Next, each team will add its roster numbers.
The girls basketball team had 23 players in the program this season, grades 9 through 12.
Add those numbers — 427 in the case of Chardon — and the division lines will be drawn across the state, putting an equal number of schools in each division.
But we’re just getting started.
Now each player will receive a value. Any player on the roster whose parents live in the school district will equal zero, adding nothing to Chardon’s enrollment count.
Any player whose parents live outside of the school district, but who has been enrolled at the school since any time prior to the beginning of seventh grade, adds one to the count.
Any player whose parents don’t live in the district, and who was enrolled at the school at the beginning of seventh grade or later, will add a sport-specific factor to enrollment numbers. In basketball, it’s five; for football, it’s two.
So if Chardon had two players that joined the program from the Ledgemont school district in ninth grade, those players would add 10 to the school’s enrollment number.
That number would now be 437 in determining Chardon’s placement in girls basketball.
“I believe the (27-member) Competitive Balance Committee has met its charge in that this proposal is not only reliable but also can be clearly applied and fairly administered for all member schools,” Ross said, “with the ultimate objective being to promote competitive equity and ensuring that student-athletes will continue to learn life lessons in an education-based setting.”
Private Schools
In the case of private schools, each will also have to designate a “feeder system,” which means that students whose parents live in that district can play for their team without penalizing them with a number. For instance, NDCL may choose Chardon Schools, while Hawken may choose Mayfield or Gates Mills.
If this referendum passes, a school’s enrollment number will be figured out and applied the following year to ensure the divisions are in place before the start of a season.
It is anticipated the proposal would become effective for the 2016-17 season.