The Georgia High School Association’s proposed competitive balance reclassification model, still needing converts, will get a hearing Friday morning at a reclass committee meeting in Thomaston.
Under this model, the five schools in each classification with the most sports success would move up in class next year. The five lowest-performing schools would move down. Enrollment, the cornerstone of reclassification since the 1940s, would no longer matter except as the starting point.
GHSA executive director Tim Scott and his predecessor, Robin Hines, support the plan. GHSA president Jim Finch, who presides over the board of trustees, is among the skeptics. Any new plan must get approval from the GHSA’s 75-member executive committee by fall. No vote will be taken Friday.
“We’re just seeing what the organization would like to do and move forward,” Scott said. “This is a good time to listen and discuss and talk about those things. I think competitive balance is good. But my job is to work with the organization and listen to them and make sure a decision is made and then make it work.”
Scott reached out to the GHSA’s 456 member schools via email in December, explaining how the model would work and asking for feedback. He said about 18% supported it, 25% opposed it, 20% was unsure, and 6% had not heard of it. The rest, or about 31%, did not respond.
“I was a little surprised that we had that many for it because most of the people I heard from (previously) were against it,” Scott said. “Most of the time you don’t hear the positive. You just hear the negative. Where I was disappointed were those that hadn’t heard about it or didn’t respond.”
Scott also sent out projections of which 30 schools would move down in class and which 30 would move up (list below).
Those projected to drop were more often metro Atlanta schools perceived to have less athletic resources. They include five from Clayton County and five from DeKalb. The 30 schools struggled the past two academic years to advance or even qualify for state playoffs in most sports.
Among the 30 schools projected to move up are 11 private schools and some of the state’s more affluent schools. Those 30 schools won 118 of the 374 state titles contested over the past two academic years.
About 25 state associations have adopted some form of competitive-balance reclassification. Those who support it say it gives relief to long-suffering sports programs and makes sports contests more competitive.
Supporters in Georgia also see competitive balance as a way to allow smaller private schools to compete with public schools for state championships again, saying the model would classify them based on actual results and not school definition. The GHSA last year created a Class 3A-A private-only state playoff division because of private-school sports dominance.
GHSA president Finch, one of the 18 reclass committee members, said he is open-minded but unconvinced by competitive balance.
“I think this competitive balance is disproportionately harmful to smaller schools, specifically those 2A and below, and maybe even 3A and below,” Finch said. “I’m also concerned about a school’s temporary athletic success vaulting them into a higher classification whereby future middling success occurs but not significant enough to move them back down into their original classification of schools their size.”
Finch is the superintendent of Monroe County Schools. His high school, Mary Persons, was projected to move up into Class 4A in the GHSA’s projections, though the school has won only six state titles in its history, four of them since 2020 in cheerleading.
The GHSA projections also have Oconee County going up a class into 4A. That’s the high school for which Curt Miller, the incumbent reclass committee chairman, is athletic director. Miller declined to comment on competitive balance ahead of the meeting.
Athens Academy athletic director Kevin Petroski supports competitive balance and believes it can level the playing fields between private and public schools. His school was pegged to move up to Class 2A under the GHSA’s projections.
“I’m not really sure how it will go,” Petroski said of meeting. “Obviously, the public schools don’t want to compete against private schools, but continuing forward with the current model is unfair to Class A-3A privates. While the proposal is not perfect, and I’ve been a part of the process, it is better than what we’re currently doing. It’s unfortunate that some people are not interested in what’s best for the entire association and only focus on how the plan would/could impact their school.”
Multiple reclass committee members contacted for this story declined to comment.
Two others said they were undecided. Lamarr Glynn, the athletic director at Fulton County Schools, was among those. Two of his schools, Cambridge and Chattahoochee, would move up in classification based on the GHSA’s projections. Two others, Tri-Cities and Banneker, would move down.
“I don’t have a stance on the proposal,” Glynn said. “There’s still so much information to be discussed with the reclass committee as well as internal conversations with our (Fulton County Schools) officials and athletic directors.”
Lowndes athletic director Danny Redshaw said he would vote the wishes of his South Georgia region and smaller schools around Valdosta. But he conceded he wasn’t sensing a swell of support.
“It’s lost some momentum lately to be honest,” he said. “Just talking with different people, I have the feeling.”
One of the proposal’s main developers, Gainesville athletic director Adam Lindsey, hopes that a robust discussion Friday can make new believers. Lindsey is not on the reclass committee, but he has met with more than 200 athletic directors in the past year to educate and persuade.
“We are hopeful that this educational process has helped knock down some walls and open some eyes as to why this would work,” Lindsey said. “We have been fortunate to have the support of the GHSA office through this process as Dr. Scott and Dr. Hines both see why competitive balance is a good thing for our state. As we begin taking this proposal through the GHSA’s reclassification process, we are still excited to see if we can find a way to make this proposal work.”
The GHSA posted the agenda for Friday’s meeting on Thursday morning.
GHSA projections:
GHSA projections on which schools would move up or down in each class based on their sports success in academic years 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Class 6A
Move down:
Berkmar
Meadowcreek
Paulding County
South Cobb
South Gwinnett
Class 5A
Move up:
Chattahoochee
Greenbrier
McIntosh
Pope
Woodward Academy
Move down:
Alcovy
Apalachee
Banneker
Morrow
Tri-Cities
Class 4A
Move up:
Cambridge
Marist
North Oconee
Starr’s Mill
Westminster
Move down:
Cedar Shoals
Cross Keys
Drew
Forest Park
Lithonia
Class 3A
Move up:
Aquinas
Jefferson
Mary Persons
Oconee County
Whitewater
Move down:
Beach
Groves
North Clayton
Stone Mountain
Windsor Forest
Class 2A
Move up:
Columbus
Hebron Christian
Lovett
Pierce County
Prince Avenue Christian
Move down:
Coretta Scott King Academy
Glenn Hill
Kendrick
Salem
Sumter County
Class A Division I
Move up:
Athens Academy
Bleckley County
Landmark Christian
Mount Vernon
Wesleyan
Move down:
Ben Franklin Academy
DeKalb School of the Arts
McNair
Utopian Academy
W.D. Mohammed
Class A Division II
Move up:
Charlton County
GMC Prep
Lake Oconee Academy
Portal
Schley County
