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OHSAA, Petition Originator Agree to
Alternative Proposal Regarding Separate Tournaments Referendum
Referendum to
Separate OHSAA Tournaments into Public and Non-Public Schools Removed
from Ballot; Replaced by Competitive Balance Proposal that Deals With
Out-of-District Athletes
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A petition that would have placed a referendum item on
the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s (OHSAA) May ballot that
called for all OHSAA tournaments to be conducted separately for public
schools and non-public schools has been removed from the ballot,
Commissioner Daniel B. Ross, Ph.D., has announced. In its place, the
OHSAA Board of Directors has approved a new competitive balance
proposal that could place an addition onto a school’s initial
enrollment count on a sport-by-sport basis (in team sports only) that
is based on the number of students on a team’s roster who are from
outside that school’s district or designated attendance zone. The
alternate proposal was approved when the OHSAA and the petition
originator, together with representatives from his group, mutually
worked to reach a resolution on the issue.
If passed, the new proposal would require schools to submit their
rosters of student-athletes in grades 9 through 12 to the OHSAA office
at a designated time and to further indicate how many of those students
are from outside of the school’s district (for public school districts
with one high school) or attendance zone (for non-public schools or
public school districts with multiple high schools). For non-public
schools, this means indicating how many students’ residences are
located outside the boundary of the same public school district or
designated attendance zone in which the high school building is
physically located. Affected sports will be football, soccer and
volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball and
softball in the spring, with team wrestling to be considered in the
future. Implementation of the new proposal, if adopted, will be for the
2015-16 school year.
“Some of the initial discussions by the original OHSAA Competitive
Balance Committee included some of the same elements that are in this
new proposal,” Ross said. “It is generally believed that in addition to
the size of enrollment, students on a school’s team roster who are from
outside that school’s geographic boundary or attendance zone does
affect athletic success. So this concept is not something that is
entirely new.
“The beauty of this new proposal is that all schools, public and
non-public, would pass through the same filter when applying the new
formula. In addition, the roster data that will be input by the member
schools in this formula will be both objective and independently
verifiable. By approving this proposal, member schools will be
authorizing our Board of Directors and staff to develop and test such a
formula over the next two-plus years so that the exact factors added to
a school’s enrollment and any kinks in the data entry, collection and
final formulas can be worked out.
“I want to thank the administrators from Wayne Country who worked
cooperatively on finding an alternative to separate tournaments and to
the OHSAA Board of Directors for allowing the new proposal to be placed
on the referendum ballot,” Ross said. “I truly believe the climate from
the last vote on separating the tournaments has changed and this year’s
vote would have come down to the wire. That being said, I alsp believe
separation of the tournaments would have had many far-reaching
ramifications that likely would have changed the landscape of
interscholastic athletics in Ohio for years.”
The Basics of the New Competitive Balance Proposal
- School initial enrollment counts for males and
females as submitted to the Ohio Department of Education (EMIS numbers)
will continue to be the beginning point for placing schools into their
respective tournament divisions. Numbers will be collected by the OHSAA
every other year as is the current practice.
- At a designated deadline (most likely to be
near the beginning of each sports season), each school will submit
their team rosters to the OHSAA that will indicate each grade 9 through
12 student’s name, grade in school and district school of residence.
Submission will take place through an online system as recommended by
the Commissioner’s Office and approved by the OHSAA Board of Directors.
- Every student on a team’s roster whose district
of residence is outside of the district or attendance zone of the
school he/she is attending will be multiplied by an out-of-district
sports specific factor. That number will then be added to the school’s
initial enrollment count. Public schools that do not accept open
enrollment students would not be subject to an out-of-district sports
specific factor, although tuition and international and exchange
students would be subject to the factor.
- The sports specific factor will be applied on a
sport-by-sport basis in the team sports of football, soccer,
volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball (with the Board of
Directors also considering use in the sport of wrestling for the team
tournament). The factor will be different for each sport and be
dependent upon the number of tournament divisions for that sport. A
competitive balance committee representing the membership will study
the formula and recommend the various out-of-district sports specific
factors to the OHSAA Board of Directors. The current sports specific
factors being considered are two for the sport of football and five for
sports with four divisions (basketball, volleyball, baseball and
softball).
- The initial enrollment counts submitted to the
Ohio Department of Education (EMIS numbers) will be used for two years,
but schools will submit their roster data annually, meaning adjusted
enrollment numbers and divisional assignments in the team sports
mentioned will be recalculated annually.
- Schools that have an adjusted enrollment count
that moves them into a higher division will not be limited to moving
strictly into the next higher division.
- Public and non-public schools that do not
demonstrate a level of competitiveness in a given sport will not be
subject to an out-of-district sports specific factor. A particular
standard will be studied and recommended to the Board of Directors by
the competitive balance committee that will determine whether or not a
school is subject to the sports specific factor on a sport-by-sport
basis.
- Rosters will be posted online to help ensure
that a “check and balance” system is in place and accurate data has
been entered into the system by each school. The OHSAA will also
utilize compliance monitors to assist with the process as needed.
- Schools that fail to submit their school roster
data by the designated deadline in a particular sport will be subject
to penalties as determined by the OHSAA.
- Schools will begin their seasons in the sports
of football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball (and
possibly team wrestling) not knowing to which OHSAA tournament division
they have been assigned until approximately 30 days into the season in
order for roster data to be submitted and validated, the computerized
system to determine adjusted enrollment counts using the
out-of-district sports specific factor and the OHSAA staff to complete
tournament representation and tournament divisional dividing lines.
Once that work is completed, OHSAA district athletic boards will also
work to complete tournament assignments in a timely manner in the
sports of soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball.
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