Overhaul of NC high school athletics continues to advance through state Senate
A new measure that would remove the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s authority to administer high school sports in the state continued its advance through the legislature on Thursday, passing a second committee in two days.
The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday approved House Bill 91, which would shift administration of high school athletics from the NCHSAA to a new 17-member commission to be housed in the Department of Administration, after a discussion of how much member schools of the embattled association would stand to save financially under a new governing body.
Sen. Vickie Sawyer, an Iredell County Republican and one of the bill sponsors, told the committee the roughly 420 high schools that are NCHSAA members would potentially save thousands of dollars in expenses under the proposed North Carolina Interscholastic Athletics Commission.
Sawyer said she reviewed the NCHSAA’s most recent tax filings, which showed annual operating expenses of approximately $5 million. The commission lawmakers want to create would only require about $1.5 million in annual expenses, she said, with the biggest savings coming from lobbying fees, pension plans, asset management fees, conference travel and other things that “would not be transferred to this new association.”
The cost per high school could drop from $11,729 under NCHSAA to approximately $3,700 under the new commission, Sawyer said. She emphasized that the figures were rough approximations, but noted that they represent “significant savings for our public schools [that] would give them the financial freedom to control their own sports.”
Sen. Gladys Robinson, a Guilford County Democrat, expressed concern over the lack of specific, verifiable figures on the financial impact of shifting oversight of high school athletics to a new commission, particularly in light of the bill’s rapid march through the Senate.
Robinson also pushed back against the proposal during Wednesday’s meeting of the Senate Education Committee, which approved the bill on a voice vote following lengthy exchanges between Republican proponents of the bill and Democrats who were wary of giving swift approval to an overhaul of how high school athletics are managed.
Sen. Todd Johnson, a Union County Republican, said on Wednesday the new proposal was the culmination of an inquiry by lawmakers into the NCHSAA and its finances that began nearly two years ago. He said lawmakers were “flabbergasted” by the NCHSAA’s accumulation of assets, which he said was greater than several other states combined, and would be better spent if it is returned to the association’s cash-strapped member schools.
“The schools are being basically bludgeoned with these exorbitant fees and requirements on equipment and requirements on purchases,” Johnson said.
The proposal calls for a split structure in which the newly created North Carolina Interscholastic Athletics Commission would set officiating standards, enforce official rule books, and schedule games and conferences, while the State Board of Education would oversee student eligibility and health and safety issues.
“What we’re trying to do is establish accountability and transparency, with oversight, through this structure,” Johnson said.
Members of the athletics commission would be appointed, with nine members being selected by the governor, four by the House speaker and four by the Senate president pro tempore.
Similar to the makeup of the current NCHSAA board, members of the proposed commission would have to be working in public schools either as an athletic director, superintendent, assistant superintendent, associate superintendent, principal, assistant principal or a full-time employee who also serves as a coach.
NC Democrats criticize rushed process
Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, a Raleigh Democrat who previously called the bill a “death penalty” for NCHSAA, criticized the committee on Wednesday for rushing to approve such a major restructuring of how high school athletics are managed in North Carolina.
“I think that the decision to completely dissolve a hundred-year-old-plus organization that’s been managing more than 20 varsity sports from Murphy to Manteo is akin to calling the ball game in the second inning, not the ninth inning,” Chaudhuri said.
Lawmakers previously held a hearing in April on oversight of the NCHSAA, at which time they voted to launch an investigation into the association and had paired that effort with a bill that would have required the organization’s finances to be audited by the Office of the State Auditor.
“This committee jumped to recommending the establishment of a new organization without setting out even a set of written findings,” Chaudhuri said.
NCHSAA denies it is “hoarding money”
During public comments at the end of Wednesday’s hearing, James Alverson, an assistant commissioner at NCHSAA, pushed back on the notion that the 108-year-old association had grown too wealthy or powerful and said it was “not hoarding money.”
In an interview with The News & Observer on Wednesday, Alverson acknowledged there were areas where the NCHSAA could make improvements but defended the NCHSAA’s current governance of high school athletics.
“We have stewarded the financial resources of our member schools very well to make sure and ensure high school athletics is able to continue at a great rate here in North Carolina,” he said. Specifically, Alverson took issue with concerns raised by lawmakers about the size of the NCHSAA’s endowment.
“I don’t think anybody that understands how money works and I don’t think that anybody who understands how an endowment works, would say that we should stop growing the endowment, which is there to provide opportunities for student-athletes to participate in championships,” Alverson said.
Asked what the NCHSAA’s next steps are as the bill advances through the General Assembly, Alverson said the organization hopes to continue talks with lawmakers over possible reforms in place of shifting authority to administer high school sports to a new governing body.
“We want to work with individuals who want to work with us towards the end of making high school athletics in the state of North Carolina the best they can be for student-athletes,” Alverson said.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Overhaul of NC high school athletics continues to advance through state Senate."
