IHSAA amends system change

During their final meeting of the 2022-2023 academic year, the Indiana High School Athletic Association Executive Committee approved an amendment to a rule change for sports that feature only four classes.

The IHSAA Executive Committee opted to stick with a system that is dependent on a certain percentage of schools going into each class, but will tweak the criteria of how to assign programs to each level.

The alteration affects baseball, boys and girls basketball, softball and volleyball.

After the passing of the amendment, Class 4A will comprise the schools whose enrollment numbers would make them among the largest 20% of high schools in the state. Institutions among the smallest 30% of the IHSAA membership will be placed in Class A.

Classes 2A and 3A will each get 25% of the schools competing in each of the four sports.

The measure- which passed after receiving the support of 13 of the 17 Committee members- follows a rule change that was proposed by the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (IIAAA) in the spring to place programs in each class on the basis of the fixed enrollment numbers for each school.

Previously, the IHSAA divided schools among each class as evenly as possible.

The new system will officially go into place in the 20242025 school year when the next two-year reclassification cycle begins with the certified enrollment figures reported to the Indiana Department of Education being used.

IHSAA Commissioner Paul Neidig believes the change will bring clarity to member schools while addressing their concerns.

“The Board of Directors recognized the concerns brought to us by the IIAAA which were the enrollment gap in Class 4A and the smaller schools that were being moved up to a larger class without a significant enrollment change due to new member schools joining the Association,” Neidig said. “This change also addresses a desire for schools to be in the same class in baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball but it also gives us an opportunity to adjust those percentages in the future if necessary.”

Schools can also move up a class due to the IHSAA’s Tournament Success Factorsomething the Executive Committee also reviewed.

A proposal was approved to have points a school earns toward the Tournament Success Factor to be studied each year during a two-year window to determine whether a team moves up a class or stays up after having elevated in recent years.