How states handle public vs. private

While some states have enough private schools to form their own conference, others rely on enrollment modifiers to push successful private schools to higher classes.

Even still, some states base it on success and send private schools up or down a class based on their endof-season results.

Here's a look at what other states do when trying to strike a balance between public and private high school athletics.

Colorado: Both public and private schools compete within the same classes. A 2013 measure to install a promotion system for private schools based on success was voted down by the Colorado High School Activities Association in 2013.

Georgia: Beginning in 2012, private schools in the state’s smallest classification 1A, or schools with 520 or fewer students, compete in their own playoffs. Before that, Georgia used a 1.5 enrollment multiplier formula for private schools from 2000 to 2008.

Other qualifiers for Georgia private schools include: Single-sex schools have their enrollment doubled for classification purposes. Schools whose enrollment is more than 3 percent outof-county students are moved up a class. Schools also can request to move up in class.

Indiana: All schools are subject to a sport-bysport reclassification every two years based on that school sport’s past tournament success. Schools earn assigned point values for the level of achievement and final placement in end-of-season tournament series.

Kansas: Currently public and private schools are classified based on enrollment only, but a state house bill to add a success modifier to private schools was sent to the education committee last February.

Louisiana: Public and private schools were divided into different classifications in 2013. Several votes to reunite the two sides have all failed, including the most recent one in late January. As it stands, the more than 400 state schools are divided into nine classes and divisions based on each school's student enrollment. Classes are for the public schools while divisions are made up of private schools. Schools with singlegender enrollments have their enrollment numbers doubled for classification purposes.

Missouri: A 1.35 multiplier to enrollment numbers is applied to private schools in all sports. An additional 2.0 multiplier is applied to single-sex schools.

Nebraska: Multiple proposals to add a success multiplier formula to private schools and other enrollment adjustment proposals have failed to gain any traction.

New Jersey: New Jersey’s non-public schools play football in their own conference. Non-public and public schools can still play each other during the regular season, but only if both teams agree to the matchup.

Texas: There are separate associations for public and private schools, though two all-boys schools (Dallas Jesuit and Houston Strake Jesuit) were granted into the public University Interscholastic League after extensive court battles. In 2011, the Texas Senate voted to allow private schools to join the UIL except in football and basketball.

Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association ended the separation of public and private schools in the 1990s. A 2015 amendment proposal to add a success multiplier to the private schools was voted down.