MT. JULIET, Tenn. — With the potential looming for major change to TSSAA bylaws regarding the eligibility of high school athletes across the state, the committee responsible for writing the regulations for the state’s prep sports governing body elected Thursday to table multiple proposals that would affect what is permitted under the transfer rule.
During its regularly scheduled winter meeting — which lasted more than five hours — inside a ballroom at a Nashville-area hotel, the TSSAA’s Legislative Council opted to delay voting on proposals that would tweak both the residency rule and the transfer rule.
The reason for tabling those proposals was to allow TSSAA executive director Mark Reeves and his team to meet with Tennessee state senators on the parameters for how a potential one-time transfer exception would work.
When the Tennessee General Assembly reconvenes on Jan. 9, there will be at least one bill — introduced earlier this month by Rep. Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) — that could create the opportunity to bypass current TSSAA rules regarding the transfer of any student-athlete from one school to another. Under current TSSAA rules, which have been in place for decades, any student-athlete who transfers from one school to another must make a bona fide change of address or else be ruled ineligible to participate in varsity sports for one calendar year.
But a growing push by state lawmakers, as well as parents, for more freedom of school choice (without giving up the opportunity for extracurricular sports involvement right away) has led to the need to address the subject. Should a one-time transfer rule come about, it could also make a moot point of the outcry by mid-state private schools to address the governing of boarding schools such as Chattanooga’s Baylor and McCallie.