Ohio is instituting a new program called COMPETITIVE BALANCE in their HS athletics.This was voted on in 2014 and now being implemented in football, basketball, and other sports. It was a result of a careful study that showed there was an inordinate amount of parochial schools and public schools where kids are just moving into the district to play sports for a winning team WINNING STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS.. The way and the amount of kids transferring schools started to become like the "wild wild west" out there, and Ohio high school's governing body, OHSAA, wanted to get a handle on that and slow that down a bit to make it fair for everyone.
Ohio, like most states, separates their schools into divisions based on amount of boys or girls in the school, depending on the gender of the sport. The problem is even a small school could have lots of kids transfer in just to play sports.. So what the state of Ohio has done, realizing that any system to try to remedy this could cause a lot of red tape, was to take the amount of students considered(total amount of either boys or girls in the school) and assign that amount a certain point value for a population range for each division. Then add designated amount of points if a kid playing a sport has one or more parents that are considered legal guardians, living outside the school district. If the total points are high enough because of kids transferring in, that school gets BUMPED UP to play bigger schools in the playoffs..This is based on a submitted roster that has a deadline date to be analyzed by the state so the divisions can be determined in the preseason as to who plays in what division. The assumption is that being forced to play bigger schools in the playoffs would be a deterrent to schools to accept transfers from other districts, in most cases.. This will be one to monitor and lots of states are interested in the success of this program as they have some of the same issues in their state championships.
Schools with open enrollment could suffer the most... Ohio designated feeder schools(public junior high and local parochial schools) for each district high school so that points would not be unnecessarily added. Will be interesting to monitor in the future. There are necessary accommodations in case of school closures/consolidations as well as hardship cases.
Ohio, like most states, separates their schools into divisions based on amount of boys or girls in the school, depending on the gender of the sport. The problem is even a small school could have lots of kids transfer in just to play sports.. So what the state of Ohio has done, realizing that any system to try to remedy this could cause a lot of red tape, was to take the amount of students considered(total amount of either boys or girls in the school) and assign that amount a certain point value for a population range for each division. Then add designated amount of points if a kid playing a sport has one or more parents that are considered legal guardians, living outside the school district. If the total points are high enough because of kids transferring in, that school gets BUMPED UP to play bigger schools in the playoffs..This is based on a submitted roster that has a deadline date to be analyzed by the state so the divisions can be determined in the preseason as to who plays in what division. The assumption is that being forced to play bigger schools in the playoffs would be a deterrent to schools to accept transfers from other districts, in most cases.. This will be one to monitor and lots of states are interested in the success of this program as they have some of the same issues in their state championships.
Schools with open enrollment could suffer the most... Ohio designated feeder schools(public junior high and local parochial schools) for each district high school so that points would not be unnecessarily added. Will be interesting to monitor in the future. There are necessary accommodations in case of school closures/consolidations as well as hardship cases.
Last edited:
