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school sues to abolish competitive balance rule


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Alabama private school sues to abolish competitive balance rule

Updated 3:57 PM; Posted 2:05 PM

9-11 minutes

St. Paul's Episcopal School in Mobile filed a federal civil lawsuit Thursday afternoon against the Alabama High School Athletic Association, alleging that a new AHSAA rule penalizes some private school sports teams for being successful, and puts their athletes in harms way.

The suit calls on the court to abolish the so-called "competitive balance" rule and to order the AHSAA to pay St. Paul's legal fees.

If successful, the St. Paul's suit could cause turmoil statewide in scheduling for the 2018-19 high school sports season. A substantial number of private and parochial school teams compete against public school teams under the AHSAA administrative umbrella.

The 56-page filing describes the new AHSAA rule as "arbitrary, discriminatory and dangerous," labels the AHSAA conduct in the matter as "arbitrary and reckless," and says that the rule was "motivated by a bare desire to harm and disadvantage a politically unpopular group."

Named as defendants are the Montgomery-based AHSAA and its executive director, Steve Savarese. Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Savarese said he had not seen the civil action and would have to confer with AHSAA attorneys.

AHSAA adapts competitive balance

Under the new bylaw, private schools who have been ultra successful over a three-year period in certain sports would be elevated to a higher classification based on a points system

In a letter to the St. Paul's community Thursday, Blair Fisher, St. Paul's head of school, said the St. Paul's Board of Trustees voted unanimously to move forward with the legal challenge. "St. Paul's has been a proud member of the AHSAA for decades, but our students' safety, along with our promise that we will never let our students be treated unfairly, is our top priority," Fisher said.

The AHSAA's Board of Control approved the new rule in November. Basically, the rule requires private schools that achieve a certain level of success in certain sports to be reclassified for athletic purposes so that they play against schools with significantly larger enrollments.

The St. Paul's lawsuit maintains that the rule tips the balance in favor of public schools, while penalizing private school for winning. Moreover, it opens the way for "greater risks of injury for private school students participating in contact and collision sports," said Russel Myles, a lawyer with McDowell Knight Roedder & Sledge, the Mobile-based firm representing St. Paul's.

In Alabama high school sports, teams are placed into classifications based on enrollment, for the most part. Schools within the various classifications compete against one another, in their various regions or areas.

Private schools, however, already have an extra hurdle: For classification purposes, the AHSAA counts each private school student as 1.35 students. This "multiplier," enacted in 1999, is to compensate for a perceived advantage that a private school might have in facilities, staffing and the ability to draw students from a larger area.

10 questions about competitive balance

Let's look some frequently asked questions about the concept, which has been used in other states:

By actual 10-12th grade enrollment, St. Paul's would be classified as a 4A school in Alabama's seven classifications, according to the lawsuit.

But with the multiplier, St. Paul's plays in the 5A class. Now, with the competitive-balance rule, 15 of the Saints' athletic teams in nine sports (girls and boys) are scheduled to play in 6A beginning in this fall. This includes the football team, which won its third 5A state championship in four years in 2017.

In fact, during the 2017-18 school year, St. Paul's also won AHSAA state titles in boys swimming, girls indoor track, girls outdoor track and boys golf. The five state titles tied for second-most, trailing only Homewood High and equaling the five won by American Christian, Auburn High and Hoover High.

Said St. Paul's Fisher, "We are deeply concerned our students will now lose the opportunity to fairly compete in athletics and, more importantly, we believe the new rule creates significant, undeniable safety concerns in collision sports, like football. This action by the AHSAA is fundamentally wrong no matter how you look at it."

The lawsuit doesn't ask for monetary damages, only "equitable relief" from the classification rule.

Who does it affect?

The AHSAA announced its new competitive balance rule as part of the latest reclassification.

Said lawyer Myles, "The double penalty applied to only private schools is unprecedented. No other state in the nation imposes both a student multiplier and a success test."

At least 75 private-school teams are scheduled to play in a higher classification during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 academic years strictly because of the competitive balance rule. Two of those are football teams -- St. Paul's from 5A to 6A and Madison Academy from 4A to 5A.

As a 6A football team, St. Paul's will be in the same region as 6A public school powers such as Spanish Fort, Saraland, Daphne and Blount. St. Paul's football coach and director of athletics Steve Mask declined comment on the suit.

According to the lawsuit, several physicians spoke to the AHSAA and explained the dangers of forcing smaller schools to play much larger schools in contact and collision sports. The St. Paul's lawsuit quotes Juan Ronderos, a neurologist specializing in spinal injuries and neurological disorders, telling the AHSAA: "As a medical professional who has treated high school and college athletes for over a decade for concussion and CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy], I urge you to consider the fact that you will be placing our students in harm's way if this measure passes."

The AHSAA reclassifies its schools every two years. For the 2018-2020 cycle, enrollment in Class 4A ranges from 297.7 students to 377.45. By contrast, the enrollment in 6A schools - where St. Paul's is slated to play football - ranges from 605.7 (B.C. Rain) to 1,045.6 (Albertville).

A look at other states

High School associations in Alabama's neighboring states each have their own approach.

The debate between public and private schools has simmered over the years as rural schools have struggled to win state titles, while private schools and well-financed city schools have thrived. Rep. Ritchie Whorton, R-Owens Cross Roads, even proposed a bill last year that would mandate separate championships for public and private schools.

Savarese and the AHSAA created a task force, composed of public and private school members, to further study the issue and offer possible solutions. The task force suggested five possibilities: sticking only with the 1.35 multiplier, increasing that multiplier to as high as 2.25, placing all private schools in separate classification, barring private schools from AHSAA membership and instituting the competitive balance rule.

"The task force looked a lot of options," Savarese said in November. "Increasing the multiplier was debated, but that would have done more damage than good. Some schools could have been moved up as many as three classes by raising it. With competitive balance, we were able to look at the schools who have the most resources and have had the most successes and advance them when needed."

RELATED: What would a private school only football playoff look like?

In the competitive balance system, private schools earn one point for a quarterfinal appearance, two points for making the semifinals and four for a championship game appearance in each sport. For the single-gender sports of football, baseball, softball and volleyball, teams that score more than six points are required to move up a classification from where they were in the most recent classification period. For sports that are tied together for scheduling purposes, like basketball, the point total is higher.

St. Paul's asked the AHSAA Board of Control to reconsider competitive balance this winter and presented its case against the rule at the quarterly meeting on Jan. 31 in Montgomery. On March 13, according to the lawsuit, the AHSAA invited St. Paul's to register an official appeal. That appeal was denied the next day, according to the suit, citing the Board of Control's "power to classify member schools into two or more divisions for the purpose of athletic competition."

Myles said his firm has asked the court to set a hearing in 20 days to consider the civil action. 

"Our focus has been getting the complaint filed," Myles said. "We'll now turn our attention to working with the Court to get a hearing scheduled as soon as possible. Beyond that, all I can say is that I believe the Board of Trustees has taken the right course of action under difficult circumstances."

Fisher said St. Paul's did not contact any other private schools before filing Thursday's suit but said the school "anticipates that we will have broad support from the independent school community and believe this message will also resonate among many public schools."

St Paul's vs. AHSAA federal lawsuit by Josh Bean on Scribd

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Don't have any strong feelings on this but seems that private schools have the option to join AHSAA...or not...and if they find the rules to be objectionable, they should just play like minded private schools and establish their own rules for participation.    

Guess I'm not sure they have a "right" to join the association of public schools...... which would seem to be a factor in their lawsuit. :dunno:

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So what it basically boils down to is the age old argument that public schools believe private schools recruit players or am I missing something?

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To me the problem is that private schools can end up playing at such a high classification that their students suddenly become uncompetitive.  If I am not mistaking this rule only applies to private schools which meams that if a public school is dominating then why wouldnt they move up in classification as well.  Personally, I get the issue public schools have against private schools because our school has had to play MA for years.  But making a private school up their classification just becaise they are winning seems wrong to me. 

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If said private schools are giving out scholarships and do not have to deal with zoning then I see no issue,with reclassification.

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The way you combat this is by having Private schools having their own Athletic Association, like the article says.  Texas, unlike most states, has separate organizations for public and private schools, but public and private schools may schedule each other in competition. This also eliminates the so called “Recruiting and giving of Scholarships” for athletic purposes. 

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2 hours ago, AlaskanFAN said:

The way you combat this is by having Private schools having their own Athletic Association, like the article says.  Texas, unlike most states, has separate organizations for public and private schools, but public and private schools may schedule each other in competition. This also eliminates the so called “Recruiting and giving of Scholarships” for athletic purposes. 

Issue in Alabama is that there does not appear to be enough private schools in any size category to create good conferences or leagues unless teams go state-wide so this what the private schools agreed to do.....but seems that in doing so, joining AHSAA, they have to accept the restrictions too. 

Just looking at the success rate of private schools in Alabama and here in NC, it's hard to make the case that the rules are hurting them very much...though I'm not sure what kind of "leveling " factor may apply in this state. ...but many of them definitely recruit in one form or another.   

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This honestly sounds like a "we don't want to give up our yearly championships" kind of thing or worse, a "trophies over experience" thing. The last time I checked, competitors wanted to take on the best of the best. Having their kids play against the best teams gives them an advantage going forward. Sure, they may not win it all, anymore, but they can compete and get better, and they have the advantage of being able to recruit every single player on their team if they want to. They probably also have as good or better of equipment/resources than any higher level team they would face.

It would be interesting to hear the opinion of the other teams that they beat every year for the championship.

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Having my kids in an academically-oriented private school I have mixed emotions about this. Our school does not “recruit” athletically while Madison Academy just up the road clearly does. My girls run cross-country and the program is very successful thanks to good kids and an incredibly good and dedicated coaching staff. We are getting “ punished” next year for winning back-to-back state championships. Next year will be tough but they will be better competitors for going through it. I wish there was a way for th AHSAA to tailor the reclassification rule to only affect those schools/sports that are recruiting and giving “scholarships “ out for athletic purposes but I know that probably isn’t workable. Just my two cents....

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I don't have a dog in this fight, but the argument the plaintiff's lawyer is making about the measure putting the private school players in harm's way is absolutely ridiculous.  Football is a violent sport whether you're playing against 5A or 6A opponents.  If they're truly worried about putting their kids in harm's way, maybe they should just drop contact sports altogether.

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