Lawmakers look to fix ‘lopsidedness’ in S.C. high school sports
COLUMBIA, S.C (WRDW/WAGT) - State lawmakers are now stepping in to try to balance out the playing field for South Carolina high school sports.
Some South Carolinians believe public charter schools have become too dominant – while others argue not every student is getting the opportunity to compete in sports – and they say that’s not right.
The situation has escalated this fall.
For example, here in the Midlands – a handful of traditional high schools have said ahead of time that they’ll forfeit football games against the powerhouse public charter school Gray Collegiate Academy.
“The principal of W.J. Keenan cited, ‘It’s best for the morale of the student-athletes to not play Gray Collegiate,’” said Rep. Shannon Erickson, House Education and Public Works chair.
She says she’s constantly hearing concerns about the state of high school athletics in South Carolina.
“We have problems of schools fighting amongst each other and our children being pushed out of the sport they love to play,” she said. “Something is wrong.”
That’s why Erickson says she formed a committee to figure out what should be done at the State House to fix it.
Several bills have already been filed – including ones that would:
- Create a new governing body for high school sports under the state Department of Education.
- Require charter and private schools move up classifications and play against larger traditional public schools.
- Restrict charter schools’ postseason participation.
“It’s been a very large issue,” Erickson said. “You don’t have this many bills being filed by this many people.”
The committee held its first meeting Monday – and heard from Commissioner Jerome Singleton of the South Carolina High School League.
He told lawmakers the biggest challenge they’re facing is the lopsidedness, as he describes it, in the league’s lower classifications – where most public charter schools and private schools compete and some have dominated.
But Singleton says a temporary law that the General Assembly’s enacted, called a proviso – prevents the league from balancing out the playing field.
“There are some where it may have to be an adjustment made to some schools and not all schools,” Singleton said. “That proviso says that all schools have to be treated the exact same. Well, that kind of puts us a little in a bind because to be able to create the level playing field, we have to have the authority to address them as we see fit.”
Erickson disagrees with that interpretation.
The executive director of the Public Charter School Alliance of South Carolina – says they haven’t taken a stance on any bill in particular – and notes not all charter schools have been dominating their competition the way some have.
“I do think because we have an evolving landscape of public education in our state that it makes sense that athletics would evolve as well. So I do think that now is a great time to take a look at that,” said Kevin Mason of the Public Charter School Alliance of South Carolina.
There’s no statutory deadline for this committee to submit recommendations.
But Erickson says she would like to have some proposals to present by the time the new legislative session begins in January.
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