AAA plan puts off hearing on state bill
An education committee hearing on House Bill 1097 — which would force the Arkansas Activities Association to create separate athletic competitions for public and private schools — previously scheduled for today has been deferred after the AAA proposed a Competitive Equity Factor last week.
The proposal — which would label private-school teams as either “dominant,” “competitive” or “non-competitive” based on their performance over a fouryear span — was discussed with State
Rep. Jim Wooten (R-Beebe), the primary sponsor of the bill.
As a result, Wooten agreed to delay any potential hearing until the results of the AAA’s emergency ballot are released.
“I had promised them that if they made an effort to address [the disadvantages public schools have in competing against private schools], I wouldn’t run my legislation,” Wooten said. “All the indications that I have are that their membership will approve it, hopefully, based on my conversations with some of the members sharing with me how they feel.”
While three of Arkansas’ six football classifications were topped by private schools last season — Pulaski Academy in Class 5A, Shiloh Christian in Class 4A and Harding Academy in Class 3A — there are just eight football-playing private schools statewide. Currently, private schools in all sports must compete one classification higher than appropriate given their enrollment.
Though there are other private schools that compete in sports beyond football, preventing public and private schools from competing in the same leagues would create headaches in terms of scheduling and travel with so few private schools statewide.
“I didn’t want to introduce the legislation in the first place because I don’t feel that it’s [within] the legislature’s purview,” Wooten said. “But at the same time … the plan they were using was not working because the private schools had a way around it in controlling their enrollment in accepting or not accepting certain students.
“[The AAA’s proposal] addresses most of the concerns, but I did have a lot of schools that wanted to stay the course and run the bill. But I had made a commitment.”