KHSAA transfer policy questioned

This from the Herald-Leader:

Power play: Teen athletes cry foul

...In more than 800 cases a year, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association decides whether kids who transfer from one school to another are eligible to play sports or must sit out for a year. The state has established one of the toughest transfer rules in the country to fight a damning history of recruiting abuses in a sports-hungry state where coaches and parents will go to extremes to get students on a team.

But the association is facing growing criticism from parents, legislators and some members of the Kentucky Board of Education, who say that the pendulum has swung too far. The KHSAA, they say, has too much power and too little oversight; its decisions are often arbitrary, take too long and, ultimately, find too many children ineligible to play.

The furor has put the KHSAA, which has overseen high school sports since 1917, at a
crossroads. The Kentucky Board of Education, which oversees it, last year created a Commission on Interscholastic Athletics that recommended that the eligibility determinations be quicker. And the legislature's Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee, which approves all agency regulations, has demanded that the KHSAA change some of its controversial rules...

Sports eligibility proposal rejected by legislative panel

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A controversial plan that would cost some high school athletes a year of sports eligibility received a harsh rebuke yesterday from a legislative subcommittee, which declared the idea "deficient" in a 6-0 vote.

The plan, called Proposal 2, would define athletic feeder systems for private schools somewhat similar to those imposed on public schools. Many students who cross those boundaries -- moving from a public middle school to a private high school or vice versa -- would have to sit out of competition for a year.

This is a clear signal from this legislative committee that the current Proposal 2 is not acceptable as a solution to the allegations of recruiting in athletics," said Kevin Noland, interim commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education.

Proposal 2 grew out of public schools' view that private schools can recruit athletes, which is against the rules, under the guise of recruiting students. Proponents also point out that private schools have no attendance boundaries and can offer financial aid to needy students.

However, the idea of unfairly penalizing some students to prevent cheating by a few appeared to be the main irritant for lawmakers.

Yesterday's vote was not, in itself, fatal. The issue goes before a House-Senate education committee next month and now is on Gov. Ernie Fletcher's agenda...

This from the Courier-Journal.