Hargis: Warning to public schools: Be careful what you wish for

TSSAA
TSSAA

It took almost 20 years, but most of Tennessee's small public schools finally got what they've been asking for with Tuesday's decision by the TSSAA that likely will lead most of the private schools playing with them in Division I to move to Division II.

The Legislative Council's new rules don't allow private schools to offer work-study programs to help pay for tuition. They also state that the immediate family of a student-athlete must pay the tuition and that siblings of a student-athlete no longer can receive tuition breaks, either.

photo Stephen Hargis

The new rules go into effect for the 2017-18 school year, and any school considering a move to D-II will have until around October of next year to notify the TSSAA. According to one TSSAA official, there is the likelihood of going from six public-school classifications in football to four or at most five, and there could be three private school classes, depending on how many of the private schools currently competing in Division I switch.

But while the new rules will move out some of the tougher competition - programs such as Boyd-Buchanan, Chattanooga Christian, Christ Presbyterian Academy, Knoxville Catholic, Notre Dame, etc. - standing in the way of the championships that always have been at the heart of this debate, they also lift the ban on giving financial aid to athletes once those schools do switch to D-II.

Although winning state championships isn't written into the mission statement of any private school, having a competitive athletic program does make a school more attractive to prospective families.

Simply put, the new rules have created open season for the smaller private schools to join the larger ones and begin assembling the best players in their area, leaving lesser talent for the public schools to fight over, because, let's be honest, most parents would prefer their kids receive a private school education if they could afford it.

One coach of a local private school warned, "After they passed those new rules, we all looked at each other as a staff and said, 'It's on now.' They wanted us out, they got it, but now there's nothing stopping us from trying to get the best players we can.

"Honestly, I think it will help us with our enrollment and eventually our facilities. We won't have as much as the Baylors and McCallies and those bigger private schools do, but we will definitely upgrade, and it'll be hard for most of the public schools to match us."

Our area already has reached the point where many of the top athletes find their way to Baylor, GPS and McCallie in a variety of sports. But considering the tuition at Boyd-Buchanan, CCS, Grace Academy, Notre Dame and Silverdale Baptist is about half as costly as those larger private schools, it opens the door for kids whose families couldn't afford the price at the big three, even with financial-aid assistance.

"Yeah, I know private schools are going to come after our athletes," Meigs County coach Jason Fitzgerald said. "But at least we don't have to play them anymore or compete against them in the playoffs."

So while most public schools have asked for the remaining private schools in Division I to be moved, having that wish granted might cost them quite a few more athletes, and even coaches. One other change that was voted in Tuesday was to lift the number of non-faculty assistants allowed on a coaching staff. That means private schools can now pay for as many quality assistants as can be afforded, and as one private athletic director said at the meeting, "I'm sure we can offer more money than whatever the stipend is at public schools."

All of which means we should expect the gap to widen in the competition levels between public and private schools.

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.

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