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State legislation attempting to change FHSAA’s reach over private schools

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FHSAA reported on Twitter today that Executive Director Roger Dearing spoke on a teleconference this morning on the FL House and Senate bills, HB1403 and SB1704, and took questions…

Senate Bill 1704 would lawfully recognize the existing 11-member Sunshine Independent Athletic Association as an option for private schools. The bill would force the FHSAA to allow its members to play SIAA schools, which currently is prohibited, and create championship games between the two organizations in each sport.

House Bill 1403 would let students who switched schools during the academic year play sports at their new school no matter why they transferred. Current FHSAA rules say transfer students are ineligible for athletics until the following school year unless they meet certain criteria for the transfer, including moving residence to a new school zone.

Here is a question and interesting reply from the FHSAA Twitter feed:

Question: Would the FHSAA ever consider having 2 separate State Series…1 for public schools and 1 for private schools?

Statement: “We have about 690 member high schools. Of those 690, roughly 230 are private schools. Our Board of Directors and Representative Assembly who make up our bylaws and policies, 1/3 of those schools are private schools so it would be their directive, their desire if that were to happen. Right now, I think the system works very well.”

Answer: “The SB1704 creates a separate league, the SIAA. Any time a private association can start up if they care to so it doesn’t take legislation. The thing that concerns me most is the group that sponsoring that is a group of 12 schools that have been removed by the FHSAA for repeated and egregious violations of FHSAA rules. In the HB1403, the troublesome part is that it’s going to open up recruiting and allow enormous # of transfers and the students will be automatically eligible just with the approval of the transfer. We agree that all student-athletes in Florida are students first and we agree with the FL legislative idea of choice…that students and their parents ought to be able to pick what schools they want to go to for academic reasons. But participation in interscholastic athletics is not a Constitutionally-protected property right. Once you join that association, you agree to abide by those rules.”