NCHSAA formally approves new classification model, expects new memorandum with state
Eight classifications will be enough for the foreseeable future.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) Board of Directors concluded its 2023 fall meeting Thursday with an approved plan for NCHSAA membership to compete among eight classifications beginning in the 2025-26 academic year. This plan doubles the number of classifications from the four the NCHSAA has had since school integration of the mid- to late 1960s.
“This is a direction that they (member schools) have been wanting to go for years,” NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said.
NCHSAA president Chris Blanton, assistant superintendent for Watauga County Schools, noted the NCHSAA member schools passed a bylaws amendment to make way for this possibility. Under the new plan, any classification will include a maximum of 64 schools.
The NCHSAA membership will include at least 440 schools for the 2024-25 academic year. Additional members could be added during next spring’s board of directors meeting.
“Realignment, “Tucker continued, “must now be governed solely by the ADM (average daily membership) numbers.”
Tucker’s latter statement precludes (for now) possibilities of schools seeking permission to play in a larger classification (as Cardinal Gibbons has done), and any use of a multiplier for determining non-boarding parochial and charter schools’ ADMs.
The NCHSAA, per legislative decree, still, must enter into a new “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) — now with the N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction (Catherine Truitt) — concerning statewide education-based athletics governance. The existing MOU is with the N.C. Board of Education.
“We hope there are going to be a lot of similarities,” Blanton said. “We feel like we’ve followed the current MOU.”
Blanton noted the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction and Board of Education have the same general legal counsel. Tucker added that Truitt was invited to attend the Board of Directors meeting but had a scheduling conflict. Tucker is aware Truitt plans to form a committee to discern and understand this new education-based athletics governance framework.
“That also gives us the opportunity to be at the table, and make the case why the NCHSAA should continue to be the administering organization,” Tucker said.
As for this (2023-24) school year, the NCHSAA will administer a modified basketball state championships week. The state semifinals and finals will be held at the Lawrence B. Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (Winston-Salem) from March 11-16. State semifinals (regional finals) will be played Monday through Thursday, with four games each day. Teams who win Monday and Tuesday will play for state championships on Friday. Teams who win Wednesday and Thursday will play for state championships on Saturday.
The financial implications of awarding four state championships now and eight in two years is not lost on the NCHSAA’s leaders. Blanton acknowledged 32 percent of the NCHSAA’s operating budget comes from corporate sponsors — whose statuses are uncertain per the recently passed NC SB 452.
“There are not many organizations that could stand to take a hit like that and still be able to function effectively,” Blanton said. “It takes money to run championships. It takes money to pay staff. It costs to be able to do it well.”
This story was originally published December 1, 2023 at 6:00 AM.