Senate bill being discussed Monday could change the way HS sports are governed in NC
When a North Carolina Senate committee meets in Raleigh on Monday, any decisions it makes could change the trajectory of high school sports across the state, and how they are administered.
The Senate Committee on Education/Higher Education will meet at 4 p.m. Among the agenda items is NC Senate Bill 636, sponsored by three Republicans state senators — Vickie Sawyer (District 37, Iredell, Mecklenburg Counties), Todd Johnson (District 35, Cabarrus, Union) and Majority Whip Tom McInnis (District 21, Cumberland, Moore)
The bill was filed April 5, and was referred back to the committee on April 20.
If passed as written, that bill — called “An Act To Revise Oversight of High School Interscholastic Athletics” — could limit the power of the state association.
It could also limit the number of classes at four, based solely on school enrollment, despite a recent vote among N.C. high schools that was in favor of expanding to seven classes beginning in the 2024-25 season.
Among its provisions, the bill calls for:
▪ Any student who does not live in a school district that student is attending will not be allowed to play sports “if the student’s enrollment in that unit is solely for athletic participation purposes.”
A student found ineligible could not participate in postseason play for one year after discovery of the violation.
▪ A “system of demerits” would be established for infractions of student participation and gameplay rules, which could result in reprimands, probation, suspension as well as forfeits of games and titles. The disqualifications would not result in monetary penalties.
▪ A student who receives priority enrollment as child of a full-time charter school employee could be subject to a one-year ban of postseason participation if the Office of Charter Schools determines the priority enrollment was awarded for athletic purposes.
▪ Teams will be based on biological sex, determined by biology at birth. The bill would allow for boys, girls and co-ed teams. Girls teams would not be open to male students.
▪ At minimum, there would be four classifications, based on enrollment, with charter and non-boarding parochial schools playing up. Also, conferences would be based solely on geography, division classification and enrollment figures. The language of the bill, in its current state, does not make it clear if it would allow for additional classifications.
▪ The new bill would allow a non-profit, like the NCHSAA, to run high school athletics but much more tightly governed by the state. The NCHSAA would be asked to reduce fees for member schools, take fewer monies from state tournament games, agree to annual audits, not be allowed to solicit grant funding and sponsorships from third parties as well as be restricted in providing scholarships or grants to players and schools.
The NCHSAA is currently in a “memorandum of understanding” with the State Board of Education that allows it to continue in its role of governing public school athletics in the state. That agreement went into effect last July and was set to run for four years. It came after House Bill 91 was proposed and would’ve potentially disbanded the NCHSAA.
Eventually state lawmakers and NCHSAA representatives agreed on a version of the bill that ultimately allowed the NCHSAA to remain in place.
This story was originally published May 1, 2023 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Senate bill being discussed Monday could change the way HS sports are governed in NC."
