PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A bill that would change a 1972 law to allow separate state playoffs for public and private schools passed the state House and now heads to the Senate.
Supporters of the bill say it addresses an imbalance in Pennsylvania’s high school state playoffs, as public schools can only have players who live within the district boundaries, while private and charter schools can pull athletes from anywhere.
Northampton County Republican Joe Emrick pointed to 2015, when a high school football team in his district with a legitimate shot at the state championship lost 72-27 to a charter in the state semifinals.
“This has absolutely gone on long enough,” he said. “It is egregious to me. It is totally unacceptable, and the day has come to remedy this problem once and for all, for our student-athletes and our coaches and our kids in boundary schools.”
Over the last decade, private and charter schools have won about half of all state championships, especially in football, basketball and wrestling, despite only making up about a quarter of Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) member schools.
“We’re putting competition against the right competition,” said Centre County Democrat Scott Conklin, the bill’s sponsor. “We’re telling boundary schools that … if you live within a certain public school, which is a boundary school, that yes, you’ll be playing like teams in the playoffs. That’s all that’s doing.”
Conklin said the legislation only applies to district and state playoffs and does not affect regular season or conference play. It does not require the PIAA to make the changes; it only changes the law to allow it.
The bill passed the House with bipartisan support, 178-23. It now heads to the state Senate.
