Major changes ahead for NC Independent Schools, at least one school leaving
The N.C. private schools’ premier state championship game, the Division I football final, was held in Georgia last November.
That could be changing soon.
N.C. Independent Schools’ executive director Omar Ramirez told The Observer that the current NCISAA bylaws, which allow out-of-state teams to participate in the association, expire at the end of the current school year.
The NCISAA has overseen private school state tournaments since 1974 and has long welcomed schools outside North Carolina. In 1991, for example, South Carolina and Virginia schools were added to the organization.
But the NCISAA appears to be now reining in its membership.
A new bylaw will go into place, Ramirez said, for the 2026-27 school year that will require member schools to be based in North Carolina.
The Observer reported in March that these changes could be a possibility.
Currently, two NCISAA members schools are from out of state: Rabun Gap, a boarding and day school in Rabun Gap, GA; and Westminster Catawba, a day school in Rock Hill, S.C.
Ramirez said it’s possible both schools could be grandfathered into the NCISAA, but “when that bylaw goes into effect, we will not be accepting any (new) schools outside of North Carolina.”
Rabun Gap’s head of school, Jeff Miles, said that it has been a member of the N.C. state association since the 2003-04 school year and that it has not gotten any written notice from the NCISAA about any impending rules or bylaw changes.
“We’ve followed all the rules and paid all our dues on time,” Miles said, “and we’ve built great relationships. We have explored some options in Georgia but the timing of it is a challenge. Joining another state association is a (process that takes a few years). It’s not an immediate thing.”
A national power just outside the NC mountains
Rabun Gap has become a national power in football and beat Providence Day 42-39 for the N.C. state championship in November, a game that was held on Rabun Gap’s Georgia-based campus.
The school’s boys’ soccer team won its fourth straight N.C. state title last fall as well.
Rabun Gap is a K-12 boarding school that costs up to $75,000 a year and has nearly 700 U.S. and international students from 15 states and 50 countries. Although Rabun Gap sits a short drive from the N.C. border, it is a two-hour drive from Atlanta and Greenville, South Carolina, but more than three hours from uptown Charlotte and more than five hours from Raleigh.
Rabun Gap’s 2024 football team featured student-athletes from nine countries and eight U.S. states. The team had more than a dozen Division I football recruits. Most private schools in the NCISAA are largely made up of N.C.-based students within the county that school is in or reasonably close.
Miles said that most of Rabun Gap’s school’s population is from small western N.C. towns like Franklin, Highlands and Cashiers. And he said, for now, Rabun Gap plans to play in the NCISAA in the 2026-27 school year.
“Until we get communication from the state association, we plan on being with the state association,” Miles said. “We’ve reached out a few times but heard nothing concrete.”
S.C. team plans to join new league
Westminster, however, is moving on.
It is a traditional, private Christian school — has almost 800 K-12 students and costs up to about $14,000 annually.
Westminster Catawba athletic director Rich Engle told The Observer that it has already joined the S.C. Independent School Association, which offers statewide athletic competition as well as in things like chess, quiz bowl and drama.
Westminster Catawba will participate in non-sports activities in the 2025-26 school year, Engle said, then play sports under the SCISA umbrella in 2026-27.
Engle said, up until about 20 years ago, Westminster was part of the SCISA but made the switch because of its proximity to Charlotte — and its distance from some S.C. private schools.
After it moves athletics back to South Carolina, Westminster’s conference could include teams from either the Columbia or Greenville/Spartanburg areas, creating one-way trips of around 90 minutes each way.
“We’re essentially in a Charlotte suburb,” Engle said, “and travel would be a lot easier (in the N.C. association). We’ve enjoyed our time in the NCISAA and so we are disappointed, in a sense (about the impending bylaw change) and will miss competing in the (Metrolina Athletic Conference with Charlotte-area schools). But there is a lot excitement n our school about what the SCISA offers, with the competitions like debate and art and professional development days for our staff and faculty.”
