Hwy17

Sit the bench at Manatee or start at Bayshore? Tough decision

The way it should be

What I find most fascinating from the party that says it espouses small government, is they pass legislation that increases the size and cost of government, takes away local control, and ignors the constitution both the Federal one and the State one. In fact, they're every bit as "progressive " as the other party. Corrupt too.

My own take on the education system: too much centralized power in Tallahassee and Washington. There is no local say or control anymore. Your local school board has very little authority at at all. Too much emphasis on standardized tests and over emphasis on STEM at the expense of language arts and humanities.

I seriously doubt this law will get challenged. In my opinion the state legislature doesn't have authority over FHSAA. It didn't have authority in 1997, yet it got away with it. Neither did the state legislature have authority in 2012 nor now. The FHSAA is a voluntary organization that wasn't created by the state government. So the state government shouldn't have any authority to decide how it is ran. Secondly the state government has no say over private schools, who make up a fair amount of the FHSAA membership. Third, while the state government does have authority over public schools, no where is there a legal requirement that says a public school must be a FHSAA member. That's an assumption, but I cannot find where that is specified. What I can find however is the latitude given to local government (county school districts included) to voluntarily enter into agreements with others. That said, I seriously doubt anyone will challenge this law in court. Nor do I seriously see a mass exodus from the FHSAA. Instead it will be lay down and take it. However, I see nothing that says if a group of schools, public or private wanted to form a new league, conference or join another (like SSAC), that anything could stop them.

Agreed. The abuse of the transfer policy is the issue. Not more classes.

A fifth class for metro? So now there would be a total of 10 classifications. Oh boy!

This looks like a legit move to me, not team shopping.

Short answer to your last 2 questions, no. Not that I follow gymnastics that closely but from what I understand, the balance beam and uneven bars were designed for women because they carry more of their weight and have more strength in their lower body. Whereas male apparatuses are all about upper body strength.

Those male gymnastics apparatuses require a lot of strength.

I believe he's starting to get it

Girls playing boys football isn't new. I know we had 2 or 3, and not kickers. As for gymnastics there are certain gender specific apparatuses; i.e. balance beam for females; high bar, rings, pomal horse for males.

You're Welcome

And that's how our system has evolved. Pass a law, rule, regulation or policy, along ideological lines and let the courts figure it out. Meanwhile We the People become more and more divided.

Then it gets challenged in court, where a savvy lawyer goes judge shopping to file his case with hopes some nut case judge gives him the decision he wants.

Like I ask all the time, "What could possibly go wrong?"

Is the only way to accomplish keeping biological males from competing in female sports through legislation?

If the desire is to separate public and private schools or to bring all public schools under an agency controlled by the state government, (which the legislature could), then at least be transparent about it. As stated, the FHSAA is a volunteer organization created by the schools and is over a century old. The state constitution allows for home rule and lets local governments, cities, counties, and school districts, to enter into agreements with other public or private parties. That really is all the FHSAA is in reality. For the legislature to take over a private organization like the FHSAA, I see such as unconstitutional and also against conservative principles.

Here is something that occurred to me as I thought about the bill to make FHSAA an appointed board by the governor. The FHSAA is a voluntary organization made up of both public and private schools. The FHSAA goes back to 1920 and pre-dates the current state constitution. The FHSAA was not created by the state legislature through statute. In fact, it wasn't until the 1980s that the state legislature recognized the FHSAA as the governing body for interschoolatic sports and the language of such doesn't state that public schools have to join; it is more or less implied. While the state legislature can mandate policy for public schools, they cannot do so for private schools. I would argue that given the history of the FHSAA the state legislature has no authority to dissolve or to interfere with how the FHSAA is set up. The only authority that the legislature has would be to form a new entity for public schools only.

You do observe that the SSAC and other independent conferences are composed of small schools, the majority of which are private schools. I only know of a few public schools that have been allowed in the SSAC. Yet more and more are going the independent route or switching associations. Why is this? There has been a feeling of not being represented or heard by the small public schools for a while now. Your question would be better answered by taking to some of them than me. It's clear to me however that these schools are leaving for a reason. On a side note, SSAC members, most of them anyway, still remain FHSAA members too. Exactly how that works I don't know.

I heard that there is a bill in the state legislature that if passed would make FHSAA a 9 member board appointed by the governor.

Failure by the FHSAA to really address the issues of smaller schools is why the SSAC is growing. Sorta like NAIA is becoming a better option for smaller colleges than NCAA.

LOL, I was think Frostproof's win over TCA

Just curious, what class/district would Poinciana have been in if you weren't independent?

Sound like we're back to rewarding loses.