NCHSAA responds to lawmakers concerns about role as a governing body to public schools
The N.C. High School Athletic Association hosted a webinar with the media Thursday morning to discuss concerns raised by several N.C. lawmakers about the organization’s role as a non-profit running sports for public schools.
NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said the first inquiries from state senators came two years ago when Anson Senior HIgh was banned from the playoffs due to multiple ejections for fighting during a game with Richmond Senior.
Tucker said the association followed its rules, which say if three more individuals are involved in an altercation at one event, that team would be ineligible for the playoffs.
Tucker said Anson Senior did not appeal.
“Unfortunately,” Tucker said Thursday, “after we viewed all of the footage we had, we levied that penalty. And the school decided not to inform the team and the community. And two months later, when it became apparent what that rule was or what the penalty was for that school, it created an outcry and the members of that community were upset.”
This week, WRAL reported that Sen. Tom McInnis, who represents Anson, Moore, Richmond and Scotland Counties, watched the tapes and didn’t agree that there was enough evidence to warrant suspending Anson from the postseason.
McInnis contacted the NCHSAA and told the Raleigh news organization that he didn’t like the response he got.
“It wasn’t a maybe, or we’ll think about it,” he was quoted as saying. “It was an absolutely not. It was a dictatorship. They said, ‘We would set a bad precedent.’”
This week, several other legislators in the General Assembly have come forth with concerns about the association. Some are interested in the association’s finances and how it handles charter and private schools within the membership.
During Thurday’s session, Tucker and NCHSAA Board president Jerry Simmons answered questions around those topics.
Simmons said “over the past several days, it’s been infuriating to hear comments” from lawmakers. He said they range from “being ill informed to just plain wrong.”
He said the association is audited once per year and “is not lining the pockets of staff and board members.”
He said the NCHSAA has already distributed more than $2.4 million of a $4 million allotment from its endowment to schools to help offset revenues lost due to coronavirus.
Tucker a;sp strongly denied allegations that the NCHSAA has charged student-athletes to play and taken resources from member schools.
“The NCHSAA has never charged individual student fees for regular-season and postseason competition,” Tucker said. “The NCHSAA does take gate money away from its member schools and it does not impact its poorest members by stripping of them of their resources.”
Tucker said the NCHSAA does not receive gate money from member schools during the regular-season except with a voluntary extra regular-season game where the association takes 25 percent of revenue.
Their answers here are edited for brevity and clarity.
Q. Do you believe the legislative investigations are politically motivated?
TUCKER: I’m not gonna try to speculate as to why I think people do what they do. That’s not a power I have to try to figure out what goes on in the minds of people.
What I will say is that this probably started back in the fall back in 2019 during the football season. And so when legislators inquired about the team and asked for the team to be placed back in the playoffs, that obviously that is not something that I had the authority to do. And since that time, there has continued to be questions, and then it would appear that there are those who started looking to see by what authority we do what we do.
So, you know, is that political, I don’t know. I can tell you that the rules and regulations that are in (the NCHSAA) handbook were approved by membership over the course of time. And so for me to stray from the interpretation and then the levying of penalties when those rules are not followed would be dereliction of duty on my part. And so as unfortunate as it is when a team misses the playoffs, due to inappropriate behavior or using an ineligible player, I still am required to levy the penalty or issue what the interpretation of the rule is, and if that involves for continued games missing the playoffs or whatever may be the case, then I have to follow through with my responsibility.
Q. Have the the state legislators explained what changes or actions they’d like to see?
TUCKER: I have not spoken to any legislators. I have a voice message from a legislator yesterday. And anytime a legislator calls, I am always open and listen to their questions. I have no idea what the end game is for the legislative involvement. I’m probably just going to wait to see what you guys are able to find out because as I said, they’re on your radio shows and talking to you way more than they’re talking to me, so I guess the end game remains to be seen.
Q. How fair is for 1A schools to compete with charters and magnets that have open enrollment?
TUCKER: We consider each charter school its own (local education agency). And so, in terms of the equity, as it relates to where they play, and whether you can draw from multiple schools within your school system, and certainly, that is not something that the NCHSAA can control itself, but we do have limitations and boundaries in place that deal with our charter schools, as it relates to athletics, moving from one charter school to another school.
Once they have enrolled in that charter school, there are some rules in place that keep the movement within reason. So, you know, to be able to control it is certainly not something that we can do. We simply must yield to our boards of education.
SIMMONS: We have to react and try to make sure that we put stipulations in place that we will keep things as as fair and equitable as possible, but these things are rapidly changing. But just so we’re clear, those are still young student-athletes at all these institutions and we want to make sure that they have opportunities to compete.
Q. How many people are employed in the NCHSAA’s Chapel Hill office and what are the annual expenditures?
TUCKER: We have 18 members employed. We help one-part employee, our health consultant. We have a part-time receptionist, and then everyone else is hired on a full time basis. What is our total expenditures salary wise?
It’s $1.2 to $1.3 million. Now that’s just not salaries alone. That’s the 401k. That’s the insurance, the Social Security. And keep in mind that the (annual)operating budget the annual budget of the association is typically a little less than $5 million dollars.
Q. The value of the NCHSAA more than doubled to $40 million in the past 10 years. How is that justified when so many of the 421 member schools are struggling?
TUCKER: State associations across the country are not designed to fund school athletic programs. The choice of having an athletic program rests with the school itself. So, if a school decides that it’s going to have an athletic program, then it is incumbent upon that school and its community to to determine how they will fund that program.
We have $40 million in net assets. That includes the building. That includes the equipment and everything that’s in here, inclusive of the endowment which we’ve used over time.
Now, there are those people who believe that ‘Well we just should wipe out the endowment, and let’s just give it all back to the schools today..’ Well, I bet you even legislators would say that’s not a very wise move.
So I guess you could say that the association has millions of dollars that are set aside for a rainy day and certainly we’re in a rainy day right now in terms of this pandemic and (we) have been able to give back some monies and we’ll continue to do that, I’m sure that this board of directors will take a look at the formula that is in place and try to determine does it needs to change? So to say that our schools are not getting the monies that they deserve, I think is unfair. I think our board has a plan in place that is equitable and helps every school.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 9:29 AM with the headline "NCHSAA responds to lawmakers concerns about role as a governing body to public schools."
