With the state government and the PIAA signaling very little interest in fixing the problem of the competitive athletic imbalance between public schools and “non-boundary” schools, a growing group of public school leaders is planning to address the issue itself. A planned meeting next week in State College is now closing in on 300 participants from more than 100 school districts.
Among the discussion points at the meeting a week from today is the idea of leaving the PIAA and creating a new organization that would hold its own state tournaments. It was spurred by a letter sent from six school superintendents to the leaders of every school district in the state, expressing the decades-long frustration with the current system, which gives a clear advantage to what used to be called “private” schools, but which are now termed “non-boundary” schools. The number of those schools has increased with the advent of charter schools, exacerbating the problem.
The PIAA claims that a 1972 state law that admitted private schools into the organization prevents it from doing anything other than the recent promise to tighten oversight of recruiting allegations and perhaps maneuver the most successful schools into higher classifications. The public schools want more.
The meeting is a week from today at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center in State College. We’re attempting to identify which, if any, of the area’s school districts are planning to send representatives. Meanwhile, this week’s IRMC poll question at WCCSradio.com, WDADradio.com and CatCountry1063fm.com asks whether you would support a move to create a new organization for high school sports in Pennsylvania.
