Debate continues for bill on playoffs
PIAA, Bernstine quarrel over whether PIAA was asked to be part of process
Charter schools would be considered public schools under a new legislative proposal to create separate playoff tournaments for public and private school sports teams, according to the bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Aaron Bernstine.
In an interview Wednesday, Bernstine, a Lawrence County Republican, provided more detail and context to the proposal he unveiled during a Capitol news conference on Tuesday.
“Charter schools by definition in Pennsylvania law are public schools,” Bernstine said. “So charter schools need to be included in the public schools.”
Bernstine’s bill, HB 1600, would require the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association to institute separate tournaments in nine different sports, six involving boys and three involving girls. By Wednesday afternoon, it had 25 co-sponsors in the state House, and Bernstine said it would go to the House Education Committee.
Bernstine said he had been working on the concept for a year. In the day since the proposal had gone public, he said he received “tremendous” positive feedback from coaches, athletes and public and private schools.
In a news release issued Tuesday, the PIAA rebuffed Bernstine’s proposal for separate playoffs. Among other things, it said the proposal would create unequal postseason opportunities that favored private schools.
The written statement said that despite representations made by those working with Bernstine that “all stakeholders were at the table, PIAA was not part of the development of this legislation.”
On Wednesday, Bernstine showed a reporter an email with a May date that appeared to show Andrew Goodman, a lobbyist for PIAA, and PIAA Executive Director Dr. Robert Lombardi had been asked by Bernstine’s chief of staff for input.
A second May email displayed by Bernstine appeared to show that Goodman had responded, “Move ahead in the direction you see best. My client will review once introduced.” Bernstine said those emails showed that the PIAA had been given a chance to be part of the process.
Told of the emails during a phone interview Wednesday, Lombardi said Bernstine was playing with semantics.
Lombardi said, “We were not invited to a meeting. Mr. Goodman is a lobbyist. He does not make my schedule.”
Lombardi, who said earlier in the year that any move to create separate tournaments would have to come from the Legislature, on Wednesday reiterated a statement PIAA made Tuesday that the bill would eliminate a rule on transfers by athletes, causing chaos.
Besides the elimination of the transfer rules, Lombardi said Tuesday the PIAA is not in favor of segregating classifications and the tournaments because private schools would be guaranteed 50% of championships even though only 18% of schools are private.
Lombardi said, “This legislation does not solve the issues that have been brought forward to our board about competitive balance.”
He said the group Bernstine worked with on the bill ignored directions from the Athletic Oversight Committee, chaired by Bucks County Republican Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, who was not immediately available Wednesday afternoon.
The next step for the PIAA, Lombardi said, would be a discussion at a board meeting scheduled for July.
Bernstine said no piece of legislation “ever gives everyone everything they want.” The bill, he said, attempted to put student-athletes first.
Referring to the PIAA, he said lawmakers are not likely to be interested in “what a bureaucratic agency has to say to protect their own kingdom.”
Bernstine said he was confident in the bill’s future.
He said, “We haven’t heard internally or externally a great number of people who are against it.”