After a previous proposal was rejected by the state board last month, new proposals were submitted during the week of the girls basketball state tournament in Charleston for the WVSSAC Board of Control to review.
The proposal gaining the most support is Proposal 30, submitted by the principals of Cameron, Fairmont Senior, George Washington, Greenbrier East, John Marshall. Lincoln, Oak hill, Weir and Williamstown.
Under this proposal, classification will be based on enrollment with the cutlines determined by the highest enrollment number in each classed multiplied by 0.6 (60 percent). The theory behind the 60 percent number comes from the concept that no school is in a class with another school twice its size. It also ensures there is not mathematical line that a school can manipulate ahead of enrollment counts.
For example the enrollment of Morgantown High School, the biggest school in Class AAAA is 1,753. Multiplied by 0.6, the number comes to 1,052 (rounded up from 1,052). Therefore any school with an enrollment number of 1,052 or more would be grouped in Class AAAA.
The same would apply in all other classes where the theoretical cutline in the following classes would be the enrollment of the top school multiplied by 0.6.
In the example presented the cutlines for Class AAAA through A would be 1,052, 629, 374 for Class AA. All schools below 374 would fall in Class A.
Other proposals would make sure reclassification lines reset every two years.
The hurdle with the proposal is that it comfortably puts private schools such as Greater Beckley, Charleston Catholic and Wheeling Central – located in three of the state’s largest metro areas – in the smallest classification upsetting much of the Class A population according to two separate sources in different classes who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The option for private schools to play up a classification still exists and the decision to do so would likely impact the support of the proposal from Class A, which at 49 schools, has 21 more than the next biggest class.
Proposal 29, submitted by Cameron, recommends an enrollment formula that adds weight to each student that attends a school but resides out of the district attendance area for that school. It would weigh them as follows:
- A student in district would be assigned a value of 1.
- A student out of district but in county would receive a value of 1.5.
- A student out of district and county would receive a value of 2.
- A student out of state would receive a value of 2.5.
Proposal 39, submitted by Weir, uses enrollment-based numbers to classify school but stipulates Class AAAA must be limited to the biggest 16 schools with the other three classes divided as evenly as possible.
Another proposal of note is Proposal 37, submitted by Shady Spring. It seeks to eliminate the practice of granting waivers to schools unhappy with their classifications.
The WVSSAC Board of Control will meet April 7 and 8 to discuss the proposals.
CLASSIFICATION-PROPOSALS-REVISED-March-25
Of all the proposals this one makes the most sense. Junk math using a population score based on proximity to larger towns/cities should have nothing to do with the 4 classifications. Enrollment should be the only deciding factor for a school’s classification.