Change sought in school playoffs
A local superintendent wants to split private schools from public schools during high school postseason competition.
Blanchard Superintendent Jim Beckham will present his proposal during Wednesday’s meeting of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association Board of Directors. His plan would place more than 30 private, magnet and charter schools in their own playoff system after competing in regularseason play with public schools.
Under his plan, 23 private schools along with charter and magnet schools belonging to the OSSAA, the state’s governing body for high school athletics made up of 480 member schools, will be included.
“We just don’t want to be forced to play private schools,” said Beckham, whose district’s football team has been beaten from the playoffs four straight years by a private school. “That’s the bottom line.”
Beckham told The
Oklahoman he gathered more than the required 20 signatures from superintendents in the state to present the proposal to the OSSAA. He hopes to gain the board’s approval, which would send the issue to all member schools for a vote.
OSSAA Executive Director David Jackson confirmed the proposal will be on the agenda, but declined further comment.
Some schools don’t necessarily agree with every piece of Beckham's proposal, but simply want to reopen the public vs. private conversation.
“For me, personally, my signature is to get the ball rolling,” Purcell Superintendent Jason Midkiff said. “I think there’s some things that need to be looked at. I think this is the right way to do it. This is the only way it’s going to allow a real conversation. I don’t 100 percent support everything that’s in there.”
Beckham’s proposal continues a nationwide debate whether private schools competing with public schools is fair play. It also continues a battle within the state that has lasted decades.
Beckham was a driving force in the last public vs. private debate in Oklahoma. He was a member of a committee formed by the OSSAA that spent two years studying the issue. In 2011, a rule was passed requiring private schools in Class 4A and below to play one classification higher should it finish among the top eight teams in a given sport two of the previous three school years.
Another committee met within the past two years and tweaked minor parts of the rule, but did not recommend sweeping changes.
Since that change, Rule 14, was implemented, the OSSAA has awarded 649 team championships across all sports. Private schools have won 84, a total of 12.9 percent.
It’s those numbers that have private school officials questioning the need for a rule change.
“I don’t think it has any merit,” Bishop McGuinness athletic director Gary Savely said. “I think the rule in place, though I still think is a little prejudicial against private schools, seems to be working as far as I’m concerned. We just should move forward.
“To me, if you want to level the playing field, it should be for (all schools).”
But Beckham feels the rule is broken and says it’s time to fix the situation. In researching the problem, Beckham said he became intrigued by Georgia’s handling of private schools.
Georgia's state athletic association once used a multiplier based on success. It abandoned that and now splits only private schools in Class A football, the state’s smallest classification, in the playoffs. But there are 73 private schools in just that one classification.
Beckham believes schools have found ways to work around the current rules — particularly a school that has beaten Blanchard four straight years in the football playoffs.
“I think of an example of that — and I’m going to talk about it (Wednesday) — is the fact that Heritage Hall has dropped down to Class 2A numbers for football, if they were classified according to enrollment,” Beckham said. “But they’ll have to bump up to 3A for the next two years. That stuff just doesn’t happen by chance.”
Heritage Hall is coming off winning the Class 4A football state championship with an average daily attendance of 335 students. But it’s dropping a classification after football coaches voted to split Class 3A in half. It had 64 teams last season and now will be 32 for the next two years. Had it not split, Heritage Hall would have remained in Class 4A.
Heritage Hall athletic director Rod Warner declined comment to The Oklahoman on Beckham’s
proposal.
Beckham said he plans to include charter and magnet schools in his proposal, bringing the number of schools affected to more than 30.
Schools like Santa Fe South and Classen SAS would be included. Some Tulsa Public Schools could be included, with Washington and others classified as magnet schools. Sequoyah Tahlequah and Riverside Indian School, two Native American boarding schools, also would be included.
Beckham believes those schools' ability to control enrollment is a problem that puts public schools at a disadvantage. He realizes the discrepancy in enrollment for private schools is an issue, but says it’s still time to level the playing field for public schools.
“Believe me, I’m doing all of this for publicschool students,” Beckham said. “I don’t think it mistreats private-school students because they can still crown a state champion in whatever sport they’re participating in; they just may not have as much competition in doing that.
“In other words, there may just be four teams in a particular non-public division in one sport. Well, so be it. The four teams can have a playoff and then have a state champion crowned the week after that when the final two play. It’s like the NCAA does it in football. They have a four-team playoff.”