GHSA to hear appeals from 60 schools today

St. Pius, Woodward Academy and Carrollton don’t want to compete in Class 7A next year, and Class A private schools Trinity Christian and Holy Innocents’ want to move up to Class 4A.

Pace Academy also wants to join 4A, while Lovett, slated for 4A, wants to stay in 2A.

Marist, Cartersville and Calhoun also are among 60 schools that will contest their class assignments for 2022-23 today when the Georgia High School Association hears appeals — 43 from schools wanting to move down in classification, 17 from schools wanting to move up. That’s more than double

the number of appeals the GHSA heard in 2019 during the most recent reclassification. It’s largely the result of a new 3.0 multiplier designed to place in higher classes those schools that get a large percentage of students from outside their attendance zones.

Larger private schools were the most affected in reclassification, which will go

into effect next year. Of the eight biggest private schools, only Westminster and Benedictine, both slated for Class 4A, are not appealing.

Joining Marist, St. Pius and Woodward in appealing to move down will be Lovett, Blessed Trinity and Greater Atlanta Christian.

Lovett is actually bidding to remain in Class 2A, where it won five state titles, mostly in golf and tennis, in 2020-21. It was the success of Lovett and Pace in 2A that partly sparked the movement to increase the multiplier to mitigate private-school sports domination.

While most schools are appealing to play in lower classes, others prefer to play higher, usually to remain in regions with nearby schools in order to reduce travel

and foster rivalries. Milton, an all-sports power, could have moved down to 6A but is requesting to remain in 7A.

Schools petitioning to move up generally get their wish, but private schools wanting to move often face resistance.