Public vs. private issues continue
Blanchard superintendent Jim Beckham will bring a proposal to the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association Board of Directors this week hoping to break private schools away from playoff competition with public schools.
Blanchard Superintendent Jim Beckham will bring a proposal to the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association Board of Directors on Wednesday that would separate private and public schools in all playoff events.
It’s the latest step in a long-standing public vs. private debate in Oklahoma.
Here is a look at four important events:
1967-68: Bishop McGuinness and Bishop Kelley granted OSSAA membership
Until 1967, no private schools were members of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association. But both McGuinness and Tulsa Kelley changed that when they were approved as members for the 1967-68 school year.
Both had been competing in a Catholic School League. Since their entry into the OSSAA, both have had tremendous success.
McGuinness has since won 93 state championships, but the first did not come until 1984 in boys cross country. Tulsa Kelley has won 102 championships, including the 1967 and 1968 boys cross country titles.
Their addition opened the door for the addition of Mount St. Mary, Oklahoma Christian School, Heritage Hall, Corn Bible Academy and others to be approved.
But that wasn’t easy. Twenty OSSAA-member schools had to sponsor a ballot sent to other member schools for a vote. Private schools had to have a majority vote to be allowed in the association.
2003: Christian Heritage files federal lawsuit seeking membership
The strenuous voting rules had allowed several more private schools to enter the OSSAA. But it led to two denials for Christian Heritage, the small private school located in Del City, in the late 1990s.
CHA applied for membership in 1998 and was denied.
It tried again and was denied.
The Crusaders were struggling to schedule athletic events, leading to games with out-of-state opponents.
So, CHA fought back. It filed a federal lawsuit against the OSSAA claiming it was denied membership despite meeting the organization’s qualifications.
It also claimed that OSSAA member schools arbitrarily voted to deny CHA membership.
In November 2006, OSSAA member schools passed a referendum laying out criteria to allow private schools to join the association.
They had to meet 11 criteria and complete a twoyear provisional membership.
In April 2007, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of CHA’s lawsuit, ruling that offering differing admission standards for public and private schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Later that month, Oklahoma Christian Academy and Tulsa’s Lincoln Christian were admitted.
CHA reached a settlement with the OSSAA in June 2007, becoming an official member eligible for all activities that fall.
“Relief is a good word,” CHA headmaster emeritus Ralph Bullard told The Oklahoman about the settlement. “We’ve competed with association members for 30 years, and we’ve always had a good relationship with them.
“We’re eager to get in and be excellent members.”
April 2011: The Rule 14 era begins
After a committee met for two years to examine issues with private schools, the OSSAA Board of Directors approved a rule that determines a private school’s classification based on success.
Known as Rule 14, the school would move up a classification from its average attendance if it finished in the final eight within a sport in three or more of the previous five years. It also did not allow a school to move up to Class 6A football. “I think it’s as fair a recommendation on reclassification as possible,” Blanchard Superintendent Jim Beckham told The Oklahoman at the time. “I thought there were some recommendations they needed to change or address, and the board did that.”
But Beckham remained hesitant about private schools controlling their enrollment. “From the non-public perspective, if there’s a loophole somewhere that they can take advantage of by continuing to control their enrollment and remain in the classification they want to be in, they’ll do it,” Beckham said.
Since the rule was adopted, changes have been made.
McGuinness filed a lawsuit in 2014 claiming its girls basketball team should not move up to Class 6A with the boys team, which met Rule 14 guidelines. That led to the OSSAA amending the rule not allowing a school to be moved to any Class 6A sport. In 2016, it also amended the rule to base the success factor on finishing in the final eight, two out of three years.
November 2017: OSSAA oversight leads to wrong champion
Victory Christian in Tulsa was just crowned the Class 5A volleyball state champion in October, but it was discovered that never should have happened.
Victory Christian, according to Rule 14, should have competed in Class 4A.
The OSSAA had misapplied a portion of the rule.
Victory Christian and Lincoln Christian both had been moved up a classification due to success.
But each school had moved up in average attendance numbers, meaning by rule they should have remained in Class 4A.
“All we can do is apologize and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” OSSAA Executive Director David Jackson told The Oklahoman. “It was just an oversight. That’s something that we can make sure it doesn’t happen again.”