High school principals gather in Baton Rouge today for the annual LHSAA convention and once again the main topic is the public-private school split that’s been in place since the 2013 football playoffs. LHSAA Director Eddie Bonine says on Friday principals can vote to end the split.
“Three different proposals that would address that regards to depending on bringing everybody back together, whether it will be five classes, with B or C or another proposal submitted by a principal, six classes, combining B and C.”
The split was created because public schools believe private schools have certain advantages that allow them to put better teams on the field or the court.
Bonine says the proposals that seek to bring the two sides back together put a multiplier on a select’s school enrollment, which would place them in a higher classification.
“We did not sit here in the office and say ok what schools do we want to move up, let’s set that multiplier, so it moves em up, we did not do that, we went with what nationally people use,” said Bonine.
Bonine says they are also cleaning up the association’s rule book, taking out exemptions that benefit certain groups of schools. If the vote fails on the proposals to bring public and private schools back together, then the split could get wider.
“I can expect a proposal from them that would split all sports, why do our public school volleyball players have to continue to be beaten down by the select girls’ volleyball players,” said Bonine.
The split has widened over the years. It first affected the football playoffs, then basketball, baseball, and softball. And last December three select school football title games were held at separate venues.
