How Some Other States Classify Public & Private Schools

[OldSchoolLion]

Here is some information that describes how some other Southern states are handling the public vs private debate. 

TENNESSEE
The debate for the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association hit a boiling point in 1995 when private schools won three of the five state football championships, outscoring their public opponents by an average of 13 points.  Not long after, the TSSAA voted to create a new division for private schools which gave financial aid, and Division II was born in 1997. Division II crowned champions in two classes from 1997-2000 and 2007-16, and three from 2001-06. Beginning in 2004, the private schools that remained in Division I were subject to a 1.8 multiplier.  In September 2015, the TSAA broadened its definition of “financial assistance program” to include work-study programs. As a result, Division II’s football-playing membership will grow from 31 in 2016 to 47 beginning this season. Only six private schools will remain in Division I.  Division II has added a third class, AAA, for the upcoming season. It will be made up of the 11 teams with an enrollment of 531 or more. Class AA will have 19 teams with enrollments between 266-530, and Class A will be comprised of the 17 schools with an enrollment of less than 265.  There are two classifications for Division II in the other major sports (basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball), which cuts down on travel.  One coach who was interviewed brought up two issues with the Tennessee private football arrangement: Loss of rivalries with public schools and increased travel expenses. He noted that half of their six new football region opponents will require a 200-plus-mile round trip.  He also thought nine classifications in the state was too many.

GEORGIA
The Georgia High School Association used a 1.5 multiplier for private schools from 2000-08. Beginning in 2012, private schools in the state’s smallest classification -- 1A, or schools with 520 or fewer students – began competing in their own playoffs.  Public and private schools in the A class are grouped together for regular-season region play, then separated for the postseason. Seedings are determined by a power ratings system. There are 10 private schools outside of 1A, all of which fall in 2A through 4A in Georgia’s seven-class system.  Single-sex schools have their enrollment doubled for classification purposes.  Schools whose enrollment is more than 3 percent out-of-county students are moved up a class. Schools can request to move up in class.  Outside of 1A, five private schools have combined to win seven football state championships since 1989. Four of those titles have come in 2A after the creation of A-Private. Marist is the only private school to win a championship in one of the larger classifications, capturing Georgia’s second-largest division in 1989 (3A) and 2003 (4A).

ALABAMA

The Alabama High School Athletic Association became the nation’s first prep governing body to approve a multiplier, doing so in 1999. Since the 2000-01 school year, the enrollments of AHSAA private schools have been multiplied by 1.35. The resulting figure is used to determine classification, which often results in private schools being bumped up a class.  The change ultimately didn't scare private schools from signing up with the AHSAA, whose private-school membership has grown from 29 to 49 since the multiplier went into effect.  Compared to George, Alabama has relatively few private schools, some with very large populations, and others with very small populations.  This has made it difficult to create a 1A class similar to Georgia's. 

MISSISSIPPI
There are only 10 private school teams remaining in the Mississippi High School Activities Association. The majority of the state’s private schools are part of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.  The public vs. private debate in Mississippi has included a failed proposal to ban private schools from the MHSAA in 2013; three private schools leaving for the MAIS less than a month before the start of the 2015 season after the MHSAA upheld a rule banning out-of-state students from participating in sports; and a proposed 1.5 multiplier being narrowly voted down in 2015.  The MHSAA has six classifications in football. The last year a private school won a state football championship was 2014. 

[gatorman-uf]

New Jersey

Separate playoffs for public and private schools since 1974. They have slowly moved public schools and private schools into separate conferences during the regular season as well so that private schools do not even have to play them during the regular season. It has made it very hard for the private schools to find opponents which is why they are often traveling across the country to find an opponent. 

[s1nglewing]

As of 2015, there are only eight football-playing private schools in Mississippi - 4A St Stanislaus, 3A St Andrews, 2A St Patrick and Madison St Joseph, 1A Sacred Heart, Resurrection, French Camp Academy, and Tupelo Christian Prep. The other two private schools are Piney Woods, which has never fielded a football team, and Our Lady Academy which is an all-girls Catholic school in Bay St Louis.

The MHSAA adopted the enforcement of a rule in 2015 that forced three Catholic high schools (Greenville St Joseph, St Aloysius, and Cathedral) to join the MAIS - the private school league in MS. The rule forbade students from adjacent states from attending Mississippi private schools, as you noted - as all three of those schools border Louisiana and much of their student population resides there, they chose a different path with the MAIS which has 85 football playing schools (although several are 8-man), roughly 1/4 the size of MHSAA.

Private schools in MS rarely win championships in football - as a matter of fact, they have only three times since MS started their playoff system in 1981: St Stanislaus in 2009, French Camp in 2013, and Cathedral in 2014. The 2014 championship win by Cathedral created some serious sour grapes with the losing public school teams who claimed that Cathedral cheated by having out-of-state kids (nearly all of which had attended Cathedral since elementary school) - those sour grapes were the impetus for the rule.

[OldSchoolLion]

16 minutes ago, s1nglewing said:

As of 2015, there are only eight football-playing private schools in Mississippi - 4A St Stanislaus, 3A St Andrews, 2A St Patrick and Madison St Joseph, 1A Sacred Heart, Resurrection, French Camp Academy, and Tupelo Christian Prep. The other two private schools are Piney Woods, which has never fielded a football team, and Our Lady Academy which is an all-girls Catholic school in Bay St Louis.

The MHSAA adopted the enforcement of a rule in 2015 that forced three Catholic high schools (Greenville St Joseph, St Aloysius, and Cathedral) to join the MAIS - the private school league in MS. The rule forbade students from adjacent states from attending Mississippi private schools, as you noted - as all three of those schools border Louisiana and much of their student population resides there, they chose a different path with the MAIS which has 85 football playing schools (although several are 8-man), roughly 1/4 the size of MHSAA.

Private schools in MS rarely win championships in football - as a matter of fact, they have only three times since MS started their playoff system in 1981: St Stanislaus in 2009, French Camp in 2013, and Cathedral in 2014. The 2014 championship win by Cathedral created some serious sour grapes with the losing team who claimed that Cathedral cheated by having out-of-state kids (nearly all of which had attended Cathedral since elementary school) - those sour grapes were the impetus for the rule.

...sounds like they must have a squeaky clean hs football system if they have time to pick at lint like they did in 2014 with a catholic school that has been in existence for 160 years.

Nice to know that all of that corruption MS and LA are historically famous for has not influenced the public school programs.  Sorry, I couldn't resist.