GAINESVILLE — The “Big 44” may be garnering most of the headlines from Monday’s decision by the Georgia High School Association on new reclassifications. But for several high-profile area schools, it was the number three that created the biggest buzz.
The GHSA's Executive Committee voted Monday to accept massive reclassification procedures, which included adding a seventh and largest classification, dubbed "the Big 44," that will comprise the largest 10 percent of schools in the state.
In addition, the GHSA added a provision for members in Classes AA-AAAAA that will move schools that claim three percent or more of their enrollment from out-of-county students into the next higher classification. Class A schools are excluded because of the public/private split already in play in that classification, and schools in Class AAAAAA won't be forced into "the Big 44."
In essence, Class AAAAAA (currently the largest classification) will cease to exist as we know it, overtaken by the new "Big 44" classification. The smaller Class AAAAAA schools will be absorbed into the smaller classifications depending on their numbers.
For Gainesville, Buford, Commerce, and Jefferson city school systems, the new procedures create more than a little uncertainty. It is thought that the “3 percent” rule is aimed directly at city schools, which typically allow out-of-district students to pay to attend, a factor which many county school districts believe creates a competition imbalance. Most county systems do not allow out-of-county students to pay to attend.
However, Gainesville Athletic Director Billy Kirk, a former head football coach at Jackson County High School wo moved from current Class AAAAAA Centennial to take over the AD position at Gainesville, said it’s really aimed at the larger schools.
“I see why people may think it’s aimed at city schools, but really the biggest competitive balance issue is at the (Class) AAAAAA level,” Kirk said. “You have Mill Creek, which has almost 4,000 students, playing against schools like Centennial and Habersham Central, which only have about 1,850 students. That’s a huge difference. It’s like that all over AAAAAA when a Gwinnett school plays anyone outside that county. It becomes hard to compete with those schools.
“This new change is not going to affect (Gainesville) much. We’re already at 1,870 students and entrenched in AAAAA. We won’t move no matter what the numbers are. This really needed to be done to level the playing field at the highest level.”
Kirk said the number everyone is waiting to get from the GHSA is the bottom number for Class AAAAAA.
“We know the top number with Mill Creek at almost 4,000 students. What will be the bottom number?” Kirk said. “There will be a big difference for some schools if that number is 2,000 compared to 2,100 or a little higher than that. That’s what we’re all waiting to here.”
With the new changes, other city systems like Buford, Jefferson, and even Commerce could move up in classification depending on how the numbers are assessed.
Buford Athletic Director Dexter Wood said he understood the challenges the Executive Committee faced and felt some changes were in order.
“They needed to make some changes, especially at the top end,” Wood said. “It needed to be a more level playing field. It was widely accepted overall, but I’m sure there will be some bumps in the road as with anything like this.”
Jefferson Athletic Director Tim Corbett understood the need to address the higher classification schools but felt the committee will be creating new imbalances with the “3 percent” ruling. With roughly 1,000 students, Jefferson would only need 30 out-of-county students to trigger the new rule and be moved into Class AAAA.
“I’m sure we have that many, and probably most of those are for academic reasons and have nothing to do with athletics,” Corbett said. “I know there is no perfect solution but I really think it is going to hurt the middle classification schools. I was a little shocked that the GHSA went through with this because at the (Georgia General) Assembly last week I got the feeling they would wait to look at it more. Only time will tell if this works.”
Buford has the most unique of the three situations. The school’s natural boundaries include Hall County but since they are considered a mostly Gwinnett County school, students naturally in their district in Hall County would count against them as the provision now stands.
“We won’t know where we stand until after the FTE (student) count, which will probably be in October,” Wood said. “We have students from several counties so it may not matter anyway but it would seem strange to count kids in your (natural) district against you. Regardless of how this plays out we’re going to continue to do what we do here, which is strive for excellence in everything we do. If we have to move up we’ll just have to get better ourselves.”
Kirk said during the Assembly hearings the Legislature hinted that there could be legislation soon where school choice would be open statewide allowing parents to enroll their children in any school of their choice. If that occurred a new round of reclassification talks by the GHSA would almost assuredly follow.
“There were a lot of hints from legislators that they were working to get something passed and maybe the GHSA should wait to see what happens before doing this,” Kirk said. “But I also understand that the imbalance is here right now and something needed to be done. You can’t continue to wait for something that may never happen.”
-- In other GHSA action, the committee also voted to increase the number of playoff teams in sports where public and private schools are divided from 16 to 24.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/8/330175/city-schools-not-the-target-of-new-ghsa-ruling