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The fight over prep-sports transfer rules was pushed into overtime after a committee of the state school board failed to take action Thursday evening.

Members of the Utah Board of Education's Law and Licensing Committee on Thursday evening heard near-unanimous public opposition for a ban on restrictions for transferring high school athletes.

Rather than unlimited team transfers, as the board's proposal originally called for, the revised policy would require the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) to allow one transfer during an athlete's high school career.

Failure to comply with that policy, if enacted, would force the UHSAA to abandon its current rules for athlete eligibility or forfeit the membership of its 133 public schools.

But because committee members failed to endorse or delay the proposal, it will be considered by the full school board Friday without a committee recommendation.

"What you heard today was grass roots: coaches, principals, superintendents, other administrators and parents," said Terry Shoemaker, a representative of Utah's school boards and superintendents. "We heard from the north to the south, from east to west, from small to large."

Coaches expressed their distaste a day earlier, with one saying the move would "destroy" high school sports in the state.

UHSAA Executive Director Rob Cuff asked board members to consider ongoing discussions with the association before any changes were made.

He suggested quarterly meetings between school board and UHSAA leadership, an additional voting school board representative on the association's board of trustees, and other alternatives to collaborate on solutions to the board's concerns.

"Let's sit down and talk," he said. "If there are problems, let's work together."

He said the policy, even limited to a single transfer allowance, would undercut fair play and challenge the ability of schools to maintain and develop sports programs.

"With one freebie, personally, you've got to have some type of time [restriction]," Cuff said. "There can't be a midseason transfer; that's just chaos."

But board member Spencer Stokes expressed skepticism that UHSAA could effectively collaborate with the school board.

He pressed for details on the association's process for revising its policies, ultimately suggesting that a timeline of four to seven months for an approved change is too long to respond to concerns.

"You can't give us any assurance that if we work something out with you that that's what is going to happen," Stokes said. "It's difficult to have a dialogue with an organization that is so massive."

A capacity crowd, primarily consisting of opponents to the board's policy, at times broke decorum, openly laughing and scoffing at statements from Stokes and board Chairman David Crandall.

Crandall also sits on the governing board of Summit Academy, which has come under fire by the UHSAA for rule violations, leading to suggestions that the board's policy is motivated by personal agendas.

"Ask the vast majority of parents — they want the rules tightened, not loosened," said Jason Boren. "If it is [because of] Summit Academy, I think conflict-of-interest rules also need to be looked at."

Crandall publicly acknowledged his position on the Draper-based charter school's board, downplaying that association as a source of conflict.

"I am on the board of Summit Academy," he told the audience. "It is not the reason that this came forward."

Stokes suggested that classification denials for Ogden High School and Mountain Crest High School were the primary drivers for the policy, which also called for the state school board to have the final determination of conference designations.

"I don't think any of us were trying to sneak up on somebody," Stokes said, eliciting jeers from the crowd.

Ogden School District drafted a letter in opposition to the board's proposal, as did the Utah Parent Teacher Association.

And Utah Gov. Gary Herbert tweeted about his concern Thursday afternoon, saying the board's proposal went too far.

"Let's keep the focus where it belongs, on students and academics," Herbert said.

Juab School District Superintendent Rick Robins said transfer restrictions help level the playing field between small rural schools and their Wasatch Front counterparts.

Rural schools do not receive transfer students, he said, while schools in urban areas are able to draw from a large pool of athletes due to Utah's open-enrollment laws.

"We [will] have an arms race going on in Utah and Salt Lake counties," Robins said, "which we're going to be forced to compete with."

And Paul Schulte, executive director of auxiliary services for Salt Lake City School District, said school board members were ill-prepared to consider the complexities of high school athletics.

"I think the institutional knowledge of the Utah High School Activities Association is being taken for granted," Schulte said.

A single person, Dennis Hansen, spoke in favor of the board's proposal.

His son had transferred to Summit Academy for academic reasons, he said, but the UHSAA denied eligibility for the student because of the cloud of suspicion that hangs over the school.

"[UHSAA needs] to be consistent," he said. "They need to be fair."

Cuff said the association has revised its appeals process in response to the complaints of Mountain Crest High, Ogden High and other schools.

Conference designations now are evaluated every two years, rather than four, and a reduction of enrollment due to a school split — like Mountain Crest experienced — can allow for a single level drop in conference designation.

Mountain Crest High School is a 5A conference school, but it was denied 3A classification after shedding a large portion of its students to a new school.

"An established school with tradition and history seems to do a lot better, competitively, than a new school," Cuff said.

The full school board will meet Friday morning in Salt Lake City.

If approved, the policy would require a second discussion and vote, likely in October, before a formal adoption.

Twitter: @bjaminwood