Matzie introduces bill to tackle problems with how schools are classified for athletic competition
Also building support for PIAA review bill as group meets to consider appeal of decision to bump Quips to 5A classification
Rep. Robert Matzie January 24, 2024 | 3:07 PM
HARRISBURG, Jan. 24 – As the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association meets to consider the Aliquippa School District’s appeal of the PIAA’s decision to bump Aliquippa High School’s football team to a 5A classification, state Rep. Rob Matzie today introduced legislation to resolve problems with the way Pennsylvania’s 1,400 public, private and charter schools are classified to compete in athletic competitions.
Matzie – who is vice chairman and the longest-serving member of the Pennsylvania Athletic Oversight Committee – said he introduced H.B. 1972 to address longstanding concerns that PIAA’s procedure for classifying schools places student athletes in harm’s way and skews competitions in favor of wealthier schools and those with larger enrollment numbers.
“When the PIAA determines the athletic level at which our high schools compete, they use a competition classification formula based on enrollment, success and transfers,” Matzie said. “Based on the formula, PIAA can force schools to move up a classification. But there is a dangerous flaw in PIAA’s formula that they have been stubbornly unwilling to address.
“When considering enrollment as part of the formula, schools that voluntarily play up in a higher classification are pigeonholed by the PIAA into that higher classification used for the formula – regardless of the school’s actual enrollment size. The result is that a football team with 144 players can end up being forced to play a school with 424 players.
“It’s a dangerous system that jeopardizes the health and safety of students in smaller schools that lack the numbers to field larger rosters or the finances to match athletic budgets. It also sends the wrong message to our kids by in effect punishing successful efforts to voluntarily seek better competition. My bill would fix the situation by removing a school’s voluntary decision to play up from the decision-making process.”
Matzie is also working to garner support for his soon-to-be-introduced legislation that would hasten a comprehensive study of PIAA policies and practices.
According to a co-sponsorship memorandum Matzie is circulating, the bill would direct the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study and make recommendations regarding the PIAA’s competition classification formula; student transfer policy; location of state championships; broadcast agreements; name, image, and likeness policy; financial performance; board composition; and the potential expansion of the Pennsylvania Athletic Oversight Committee’s authority.
“To be clear, this is not an effort to legislatively wrest control from the PIAA, but to examine the atmosphere and actions of the PIAA and identify areas needing revision or improvement,” Matzie said. “It’s been over two decades since a thorough study of the PIAA was performed. It’s well past time to take another look.”
Matzie’s actions come as the PIAA meets today to consider Aliquippa’s appeal of the association’s recent decision to move the Quips to the 5A classification for the next two seasons. In 2020, the PIAA moved the team from 3A to 4A. When the association attempted to move them to 5A in 2022, the school appealed based on player safety and won that appeal. For the 2024 and 2025 seasons, however, the board has removed player safety as a consideration.
The PIAA oversees senior high and junior high athletic competitions and is charged with developing and enforcing rules regulating those competitions, which involve more than 1,400 public, charter and private schools and more than 350,000 student athletes.