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Imagine you are a high school student with a tremendous aptitude for math. Your high school doesn't offer advanced math classes, but the neighboring county's high school does, so you transfer for the academic opportunity. Coincidentally, you also happen to play basketball. You're not an all-star, but you enjoy playing the sport just the same. But after you transfer, you find out that the rules of the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission (SSAC) force you to sit out for an entire year from the sport you love playing. You miss out on making new friends, being physically active, and having something to do in the evenings. That's the current reality for West Virginia high school students.
Under the SSAC's current rules, if a high school student wants to transfer to another school for any reason, including academics, they must sacrifice a full year of their athletic eligibility. While the SSAC does have two exemptions, they are extremely narrow (applied only when a student transfer back to their "home" school or if the student's entire family moves). If parents want to appeal this 365-day loss of eligibility they can do so – to the SSAC.
Oftentimes, however, the SSAC disregards its own rules. Prior to the legislative session, I was contacted by two families with students at a high school in my district who had been denied athletic eligibility when they transferred into that school. The students transferred for academic reasons, and the SSAC acknowledged this. Despite this, the SSAC denied the students their eligibility and fought the parents all the way to the Circuit Court of Hancock County.
Fortunately for these two students, that court, however, found that the "SSAC has acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner" and had denied the students the right to play through an "unfair and contrary" reading of its own rules.
Imagine fighting a sixteen-year-old's right to play baseball with so much determination that you hired attorneys to stop them from doing so and made their parents do the same - only to have a judge tell you that you weren't even following your own rules. That's our current SSAC.
In an attempt to ensure West Virginia's high schoolers don't have to choose between academics and athletics, this year I introduced Senate Bill 586, which allows high school students a single transfer without sacrificing a year of athletic eligibility.
Early in this year's legislative session, I met with officials from the SSAC to discuss SB 586 and let them know what my intention were. It surprised me when, during that meeting, one of those officials stated that it was the SSAC's job to ensure a level playing field for all schools. I could not disagree more. As a legislator, it's not my job to ensure that every AAA-sized school in the state enjoys a level playing field against the others. Instead, I adamantly believe that it is my job (and quite frankly should be the SSAC's as well) to ensure that every student has the chance to take every opportunity that is available to them. The SSAC wants you to think students transfer exclusively for athletics, and that by allowing them a one-time transfer opens up a college-worthy recruiting portal. That simply isn't the case.
Lastly, I want to be clear on one final point. Recruiting high school athletes violates the SSAC's rules. And it should. SB 586 does nothing to affect that. In fact, if the SSAC wants my help in drafting stronger rules against recruiting, that offer is on the table. We don't deny a student an academic program when they transfer. Why do it for athletics? It's not our job to insert our judgment into the decisions involving a student's best interests and why kids change schools - it's our job to ensure they have every opportunities possible wherever they are being schooled. Our students have already lost so much of their traditional school experience – they don't need to sacrifice athletic eligibility as well. SB 586 fixes this.
(Senator Weld represents the 1st Senatorial District and serves as the Majority Whip as well as the Chair of the Military Committee and Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee in the West Virginia Senate. He also is an attorney with the firm of Spilman, Thomas & Battle in their Wheeling office.)