The Georgia High School Association's executive committee approved the ruling body's reclassification plan for the two-year cycle beginning in 2024-25 at its meeting Monday morning in Thomasville.
It also approved the state's student-athletes will be able to gain from use of their name, image and likeness as long as any NIL deal meets the state's guidelines.
READ MORE: (GHSA guidelines for student-athlete NIL deals)
The reclassification will create separate playoffs for public and private schools in the state's lowest three classifications while allowing private schools to compete in regions alongside public schools. News of the plan's passing (by a 53-18-1 vote) was met with approval in the northwest Georgia area.
"It's a good day for public schools across the state," Trion High School football coach Sean Patrick said. "I think it's much needed and I'm happy the GHSA recognized the issue with that.
"You look at our classification (Class A Division I) over the past calendar year and private schools won all but one state championship. You can't argue with those numbers. Our whole program last year was affected by private schools. Our tennis team lost two matches last year, both to private schools. Our soccer team lost to a private school.
"Our football team went 9-1 against public schools and outscored them 39-11 and went 0-2 against private schools and got hammered, including in the playoffs to end our season."
It's a plan favored by public schools prior to the last reclassification before a compromise was reached, producing the currentl 3.0 out-of-district multiplier.
A power rating system, likely similar to the one in place in Class A for 10 years prior to the most recent reclassification, will be used to determine postseason seeding for public and private schools in Classes A through AAA. Private schools will compete for one state championship in each sport while public schools will decide four championships -- AAA, AA, A Division I and A Division II.
The latter group will also not have private schools in its regions, which will comprise the smallest 50 football-playing schools and capped at 450 to 475 students.
The GHSA previously voted to eliminate its highest class, 7A, and will use each school's enrollment numbers (adjusted using a revised 3.0 multiplier) to fill out the classes.
The executive committee unanimously passed a vote Monday to use the following percentages to assign schools to classes: Class 6A (largest 14%); Class A (smallest 26%); Classes 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A (24-26% of the remaining schools divided equally among the four classes).
Those assignments will come in January.
The NIL ruling is similar to the one adopted by the TSSAA and while northwest Georgia programs might not have a student-athlete with a high enough profile to take advantage of it right away, coaches like Trion's Patrick see issues on the horizon.
"It concerns me. I don't think that's what high school athletics is supposed to be about," he said. "How does that not affect recruiting, which is already out of control in Georgia? As a high school coach I didn't get into this thing to deal with NIL. I think you're taking away from the beauty of what high school sports are supposed to have.
"I get it in college, but we're not selling high school jerseys with the kids' names on them. I know there are rules in place to try and stop it, but it's just a matter of time before kids start moving around because of NIL offers."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com