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Members of the Utah Board of Education are preparing for a rematch with the state's governing body over high school athletics.
Public agendas for the board's meetings later this week show a proposed policy amendment that would loosen athlete transfer rules by restricting school membership in the Utah High School Activities Association, or UHSAA.
The amendments come roughly two months after the school board dropped a challenge to the UHSAA's transfer rule, which prohibits team-switching unless specifically approved through a waiver due to issues like hardship, bullying or a family relocation.
In place of waivers, the latest proposal would establish criteria for an approved transfer, allowing students to maintain eligibility after switching teams due to a death in the family or divorce, or to participate in an academic program at their new school.
School board chairman David Crandall said the policy is aimed at providing clarity and consistency to families who participate in school sports.
"There's just a high level of discretion," Crandall said of UHSAA's current rules. "There's really low confidence that students are being treated equally."
Rob Cuff, UHSAA's executive director, said discussions with the school board are ongoing, including a meeting scheduled for Wednesday in advance of a board vote on the new proposals.
"Were still trying to find common ground," Cuff said of the proposed amendments. "We do like some portions of it. We have some questions on others."
In particular, Cuff said there is concern regarding the way approved academic transfers are described.
The school board proposal would grant eligibility to a student who transfers schools in order to participate in Advanced Placement, concurrent enrollment, International Baccalaureate or "certain career and technical education courses" that are not offered at their current school.
But Cuff said that provision could lead to students citing academic motivations to mask their true intentions for switching teams.
"We don't want to create a situation where students are shopping for a reason to transfer," he said.
South Sanpete Superintendent Kent Larsen expressed similar concerns. Under the policy, he said, a school looking to draw talent to its athletic programs could invent a unique course to circumvent recruiting and transfer rules.
"I could say 'we're going to offer a new vocational course or a new college class' or something nobody else has," he said. "That makes them eligible to come. Virtually, it would throw away any transfer rule."
Crandall acknowledged that academic transfers could hide competitive motivations. But he said the process needs to be changed so that meritorious transfers are approved by default instead of requiring waivers from UHSAA.
"Can the system be abused?" Crandall said. "I suppose it can and I suppose it is currently."
In addition to transfer criteria, the school board is also looking to create an appellate body within UHSAA to hear cases of denied eligibility and disputes regarding conference classification.
The proposal's current language calls for members of an appeals panel to be nominated by UHSAA and seated by the Utah Board of Education.
Crandall said the specific structure of the appellate body is under negotiation.
"I don't know where that's going to end up," he said.
If adopted, the policy would force UHSAA to change its rules to align with the school board, or lose the public schools that make up roughly 90 percent of the association's membership.
UHSAA is governed by a board of trustees composed of school representatives and a voting designee from the Utah Board of Education, a position currently held by Spencer Stokes.
Larsen, a former member of the UHSAA board, said the organization's process for updating policies works well. He said the school board's refusal to work within that process, and instead impose ultimatums, suggests personal agendas behind the new rules.
"The best decisions that could be made for that association will come from their local control, which would be the [UHSAA] board of trustees," Larsen said. "They should be making these decisions."
Stokes, the most vocal proponent of the school board policy, has been criticized for his infrequent participation in UHSAA board meetings.
But he said his level of involvement in UHSAA business has little to do with the issues at the heart of the discussion, and that it is unlikely he would have achieved his desired changes through the association's internal process.
"I'm one member of a 30-member board," he said. "It's not like my voice coming to that organization is going to change it."
Stokes said UHSAA needs to operate as a component of the state's public education system and not as a private entity. That means playing by the same rules as schools, school districts and the state school board, he said.
"This is clearly not a private organization," he said. "They take public money and they are in the [state] retirement system."
The proposed amendments will first be heard by a committee of the state school board, followed by the full board on Friday.
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