If you’re keeping score, this bill is a loser

At first, it seemed absolutely ridiculous, and the more it was thought about the more ridiculous it became.

Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, has proposed Senate Bill 391 that would not allow private schools to win state championships.

If this ridiculous bill becomes law, when a private school scores more points than a public school in a state championship, the public school would be declared state champions.

In other words, athletic championships would be decided in the state Capitol and not on the playing fields or courts.

Wait, it gets better: Sen. King wants it to be retroactive.

Little Rock Catholic, Shiloh Christian, Harding Academy and Little Rock Christian are you ready for that?

Why not do what the 6-year-olds and their athletic programs do and just not keep score?

Or just flip a two-headed coin and let the public school make the call.

Or do like a few other states — definitely in the minority — and not allow private schools to even compete against public schools.

For the sake of transparency, my daughter graduated from Pulaski Academy. Her mother started teaching there when Whitney was in the fifth grade, so she left public school for private.

She did not play sports. No one has had more high school football success the last 10 years than Pulaski Academy, but the school doesn’t recruit. They follow all the Arkansas Activities Association mandates about multipliers, so they are competing against the larger schools. Because they had so many championships they moved up another class, and all they did was win another state championship.

How? Hard work, defense, discipline and dedication.

How many PA football players have gone on to play football at a major college? A handful.

When it comes to soccer, very few private schools want to play Green Forest because it has a great soccer program, but the Tigers do it without complaining or crying if things aren’t fair.

SB 391 would be a bad lesson for kids about competing, and it comes at a time when public schools stand to lose money to private schools.

What our legislative body needs to do is worry about making our state a better place to live and stay out of kids sports.

Sen. King, who has vast experience in government the last 10 years, is the one who introduced the bill to allow concealed weapons in churches — currently against the law — and it passed the Senate 25-5.

It seems to yours truly that was ridiculous, and now comes what should be considered the most ridiculous bill in the history of Arkansas.

By all accounts, Sen. King is a God-fearing, hard-working and good man.

Over the last 10 years, including all classifications, public schools have won 37 state high school football championships and private schools have won 13, with Pulaski Academy winning eight of those.

PA is Little Rock, not Green Forest.

★ ★ ★

With the NCAA Tournament starting, most bracket contests do not include the play-in games, so there is still time to have some fun and even make some money.

Of course, CBSsports.com and ESPN.com have bracket contests, and they attract millions of players, but if you want to compete locally there are at least two that are available and free to play.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has one at arkansasonline.com/marchmania, and if you pick the entire bracket correctly you will win $1 million, and 103.7-FM, The Buzz, has one with prizes for those who pick the most correctly.