Chapel Hill, N.C. — The new version of House Bill 91 adopted by the Senate Committee on Education on Thursday doesn't move to dissolve the N.C. High School Athletic Association, but it would still create major changes for high school athletics in North Carolina.
Que Tucker, the commissioner of the NCHSAA, spoke in opposition to the bill during the public comment portion of Thursday's committee meeting. In an interview with HighSchoolOT on Thursday afternoon, she said the NCHSAA is willing to work with the State Board of Education to formalize a relationship between the state and the NCHSAA, but she said HB 91 limits their flexibility.
"It's pretty prescriptive," Tucker said of the amended bill.
There are a number of areas the bill addresses. In addition to requiring a formal memorandum of understanding between the State Board of Education and any non-profit that oversees high school athletics, such as the NCHSAA, the bill limits what such a non-profit can and cannot do.
The amended version of HB 91 has many restrictions around finances and income, it limits services that can be provided to schools and students, it addresses appeals processes, it specifies how realignment and conferences should be determined, it requires additional transparency, and it addresses student eligibility, among other things.
In Thursday's committee meeting, Tucker said the NCHSAA is not against developing a memorandum of understanding, the NCHSAA does not want to do it under "coercion" or with "political influence." She said the NCHSAA would be willing to sit down with their attorneys and representatives from the State Board of Education to come up with a memorandum of understanding.
There are a number of things that Tucker would like to see in a formal agreement with the State Board of Education.
"If I had my Christmas wish list, it would be that we could continue to work the way we have worked with the state board by enforcing their specific rules and regulations, that we would formalize that, that we would talk about transparency, talk about the things that we have already started to do," Tucker said, specifically mentioning the new Endowment Investment Committee that is advising the NCHSAA Board of Directors on how to put the endowment fund to use.
Tucker also mentioned the appeals process would be something the NCHSAA would be willing to work with the State Board of Education on formalizing.
"Does it need to be more transparent? Do our member schools need to understand how that works? Absolutely. If we need to add another step, we're certainly open to that," Tucker said about the appeals process. "We're willing to do that, we're willing to be more transparent."
The NCHSAA is also willing to further open meetings to the public and to members, Tucker said, noting that regular board meetings are already attended by members of the media.
"And then obviously the fines. The fines are concerning to several of the senators, we understand that. I don't like fines myself. I do everything I can to not fine schools, and the way it works now is that, for most of our fines, when a school self-reports (a violation), those fines are reduced in half," Tucker said. "That can be a discussion, but I would like for our member schools to be involved in that discussion because many of them feel that fines are a deterrent and they don't want fines to go away, per se."
Financial language in HB 91 could change high school sports experience
HB 91 would require the NCHSAA to stop receiving corporate sponsorship money, it would reduce the amount of money the NCHSAA makes during the playoffs, and it would cap the amount of money the association could have in the bank while continuing to collect membership dues.
"When you start to look at our operating budget and the ways in which we have been able to offer state championships over the 30 years since I've been here, but especially the last 10 to 12 years, when we've been able to step up our game because the venues in which we play. If we have to adjust ot match certain percentages that are included in the revised version (of HB 91), then it would cause us to have to change the way we do some things," Tucker said.
Most state championships are held at college and professional sports venues. Football has been played at the four ACC schools; basketball is held at Reynolds Coliseum and the Dean E. Smith Center; volleyball is held at Reynolds Coliseum; softball and baseball have been played at various universities and professional facilities; track and field is held at N.C. A&T; the annual cheerleading championships is at the Raleigh Convention Center; wrestling is held at the Greensboro Coliseum.
HB 91 would reduce the amount of money the NCHSAA can make off the state tournament competitions to 30% of the net profit. There is no language in the bill that separates state championships from other state tournament games, even though the NCHSAA bears the cost of operating state championship events. And while corporate sponsorships are allowed at state championship events, it is not clear that enough money could be raised to cover the expenses of the NCHSAA.
In theory, that could all lead to state championships being held at other venues, potentially high schools. During the 2020-2021 school year, many state championships returned to high schools due to the coronavirus pandemic, which presented many logistical problems.
"We believe that it would diminish our state championships for our student-athletes because of the ways in which we would have to change the manner in which we conduct our championships," Tucker said.
Operating expenses of the NCHSAA, which state championship expenses would fall under, are not included in endowed funds. The endowment money cannot be used for day-to-day operations of the association.
State championships are not the only things that could be impacted by the language in the bill regarding finances. The bill seems to indicate that individual schools would be responsible for paying for their own catastrophic insurance, a cost the NCHSAA announced earlier this year it was going to cover for all member schools from now on. It also eliminates many scholarships for student-athletes and all grants for member schools, which have been used to upgrade facilities and purchase equipment.
"When it starts to affect the student-athlete, then that's concerning," Tucker said. "We believe that there is language in there that would impact directly our student-athletes."
Bill gives less flexibility for classifications, conferences
In early 2020, NCHSAA member schools voted on two proposed amendments to the bylaws. One of the proposed amendments would have allowed the NCHSAA Board of Directors to set the number of classifications. Right now, the bylaws state there must be four classifications, and many feel it is time to add to the number of classifications as the number of schools in the NCHSAA continues to grow. This year, there will be 427 member schools divided across the four classes.
Both amendment proposals failed. The NCHSAA bylaws require an affirmative vote from three-fourths of the membership. The vote came close, a clear majority supported it, but it fell just short.
The amended version of HB 91 also specifically mentions four classifications. If passed, the four classifications would be set in state law, which would present additional hurdles if schools desire to add more classifications.
"I think our member schools are pretty adamant that they want that to change," Tucker said of the number of classifications today. "I look for that to be on the agenda somewhere in the near future, provided we still are in somewhat control of our bylaws as it relates to classification. If it's in this bill and this bill moves forward then ... I think it sort of takes that out of the hands of the membership to be able to say, 'We want to change.'"
Classifications of charter and non-boarding parochial schools would also be impacted by HB 91 as they would be required to play up a classification higher than where they would fall based on their enrollment. The bill uses the term "non-public" schools though, which leaves open to interpretation whether or not any private school could be eligible to join the NCHSAA. Current NCHSAA bylaws specify a private school must be a non-boarding parochial school in order to join the association.
"It just seems to be maybe discriminatory towards some of the members that are in the association currently," Tucker said.
It also presents questions about how moving schools up would be executed. For example, HB 91 says enrollment numbers are the metric that must be used to determine classification, if the NCHSAA creates four classifications based on average daily membership numbers and then moves all the charter schools up a classification — most of which are 1A schools — it would leave a very small 1A classification and a very large 2A classification.
The bill also appears to eliminate the use of split conferences, a practice that has been used for many years by the NCHSAA where there aren't enough schools in close proximity within the same classification. Not using split conferences, particularly in more rural areas of the state, would result in longer rides to games and increased travel expenses for schools.
HB 91 was moved through the education committee and now goes to the Committee on Rules and Operations of the Senate, which could be its last stop before going to the floor of the Senate for a vote. The bill would still have to be approved by the House and signed by Gov. Roy Cooper before it could become law.
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NCHSAA says it's open to formalizing relationship with state, warns new bill could have unintended results - HighSchoolOT
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