For Release – January 13, 2011
Contact – Bob Goldring, Associate Commissioner - bgoldring@ohsaa.org

OHSAA Board of Directors Tackles Competitive Balance Concerns

Referendum Issue is First Step in Possible Changes on How Schools are Placed Into Tournament Divisions

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Acting on a recommendation from the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) Competitive Balance Committee, the OHSAA Board of Directors today unanimously placed a new bylaw up for vote of the OHSAA membership that would be the first step toward possible changes on how schools are assigned to tournament divisions. The proposed new bylaw, which will be voted upon by OHSAA member schools during the annual referendum voting process in May, states that “each school shall be placed into tournament divisions based on its sport-by-sport athletic count.” Schools would not be separated into tournaments for public schools and non-public schools, nor would a “multiplier” be applied to non-public schools to increase their enrollment, which a few other states utilize. Rather, the enrollment numbers for all schools (both public and non-public) would be entered into a three-part formula to establish their “athletic count.”

The proposed bylaw goes on to say that the formula for determining “athletic counts” and to which sports the athletic counts shall be applied will be determined every other year by the Board of Directors and will be listed in the OHSAA’s General Sports Regulations. If approved, implementation of the new formula would begin no later than the 2013-14 school year. In addition, a standing committee would be formed to monitor the effectiveness of the athletic count formula and to recommend to the Board of Directors any changes in the weight to be given to any one or more of the factors in the formula.

At the present time, all schools are placed into tournament divisions based strictly on enrollment figures that the schools submit to the Ohio Department of Education. The proposed three-part formula to establish athletic counts would require the OHSAA to also include a school boundary factor (how students are obtained – non-public schools with no boundaries; non-public schools with limited boundaries; public schools with statewide open enrollment; public schools with adjacent open enrollment, and public schools with no open enrollment), a socioeconomic factor (the number of free lunch participants) and a tradition factor (state championship game appearances, state tournament appearances and regional finals appearances). The school boundary and tradition factors could increase a school’s enrollment while the socioeconomic factor could decrease a school’s enrollment. The tradition factor is the only one of the three that would be implemented on a sport-by-sport basis. Once all three factors are applied to the enrollment count, each school will have a sport-by-sport “athletic count” for purposes of tournament division assignments.

“The issue of competitive balance has been discussed for years not only in Ohio but also in other states,” said OHSAA Commissioner Daniel B. Ross, Ph. D. “Ohio is unique in that our public schools have the option to approve open enrollment policies, but, at the same time, there’s no question that most nonpublic schools in the state have no geographical boundaries in which they can secure students and the result has been a disproportionate number of championships won by those schools.

“The meetings we have conducted with the Competitive Balance Committee have been both productive and professional, and I believe the proposal from the group is fair and equitable and we will see some leveling of the playing field.

“Competitive balance is a complex issue,” Ross continued. “The formula recommended by the committee is not as complex as it sounds, nor is it as complex as any of the viable alternatives and the unintended consequences of those alternatives.”

The Board’s current plan is to propose that athletic counts only be utilized in the sports of football, soccer and volleyball in the fall; basketball in the winter, and baseball and softball in the spring. Consideration will be given to add other sports in the future.

The OHSAA Competitive Balance Committee was formed in January 2010 in response to concerns raised by a group of school administrators in northeast Ohio who conducted a study that showed that 43 percent (146 of 340) of the state championships in selected team sports between 1999 and 2010 have been won by non-public schools, even though non-public schools make up only 17 percent of the total membership of the OHSAA. The OHSAA Competitive Balance Committee met numerous times throughout 2010 in an attempt to identify competitive balance factors and to propose changes that would bring the competitive inequities into balance. The Committee was comprised of 29 school administrators and coaches from across the state from public and non-public schools both large and small along with members of the OHSAA Board of Directors and administrative staff and representatives from both the state superintendents and state principals associations.

In the near future, the OHSAA will place on its website examples of how the athletic count formula could look when applied.

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