GHSA places teams in classifications for next cycle

After finally deciding to reclassify using a 3.0 multiplier, the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) placed members school in classifications for the next two-year cycle (2022-23, 2023-24) on Tuesday, Nov. 1.

The GHSA recently voted to bump up the multiplier from 2.0 to 3.0, meaning any student not from the district in which they are geographically zoned will count as three students for the school in which they are currently attending.

The multiplier was increased to combat what many public schools around the state felt were unfair advantages by city schools and larger private schools, which have led to those schools, especially the larger private ones, winning a bigger percentage of recent state championships.

Some of the larger private schools disagreed with increasing the multiplier and had offered the GHSA an alternative plan that involved placing each schools’ individual sports teams into classifications based solely on their levels of success, but that plan was not approved.

Some critics have also argued that some students attend out-of-district schools for academics reasons only. They say that those schools’ athletic programs are being unfairly penalized by being made to play in higher classifications where their athletic participation numbers are not on an equal level with bigger schools in those classifications.

Class 7A, the highest classification, had 49 schools placed into it by the GHSA for the next cycle based on adjusted enrollment counts with the 3.0 multiplier in place. Brookwood is at the top of the classification. The school’s 2021 FTE count was 3,850 students, but with 180 students out of zone, their reclassification count is 4,210.

At the bottom end of the classification is East