By Clay Horning/ OKLAHOMA VOICE
OKLAHOMA CITY — Over a month after Oklahoma’s governor called for the abolition of an organization that governs high school athletics, lawmakers remain divided over whether the century-old body needs an overhaul.
Supporters of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association contend that the body has become a scapegoat for providing unpopular, but needed, regulatory oversight. But a group of vocal critics, including Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, argue that times have changed, and the organization is failing to keep up with new state laws and the needs of student athletes.
“The OSSAA’s always been easy to attack because at some point in somebody’s life there was a bad call at a game, or (a team) got seeded badly or they had to go 200 miles to play instead of 100,” said Kevin Hime, superintendent of Lawton Public Schools and president of the OSSAA’s 15-member board of directors, which is chosen by member schools and districts.
Formed in 1911 to create rules designed to bring fairness to scholastic athletics, the private, nonprofit organization enforces regulations, facilitates scheduling, trains over 11,000 referees and judges, and crowns high school champions in both sports and non-sports activities such as band, speech and debate. Its membership has grown to 482 private and public schools, and it operates on an annual budget of about $8 million, which is primarily funded by playoff ticket sales.
The group’s goal is to maintain competitive balance.
Legislative efforts to intervene or dismantle its oversight abilities could lead to paying high school athletes, which is already happening, or giving coaches latitude to recruit youth to transfer to specific schools in a bid to create powerhouse teams, Hime said.
In the past month, Hime and other supporters have been visiting lawmakers at the Capitol to make sure they understand the role the OSSAA plays.
“A lot of people don’t fully understand the scope of our work,” said David Jackson, OSSAA executive director. “I think the majority of the people think it’s dealing with eligibility only.”
Eligibility controversy
The controversy surrounding eligibility is what caught the Republican governor’s attention and is one of the reasons why he called for the OSSAA’s abolition during his State of the State address last month.
Stitt referenced an OSSAA decision that ruled four boys ineligible to play at Glencoe Public Schools after they participated in summer team camp activities under a first-year coach. The OSSAA found that it violated one of their rules designed to prevent recruiting and benched the boys for a year.
The students and the district sued the OSSAA over the legality of its rule that prohibits students from transferring districts to follow a coach. Both sides later settled, and the OSSAA agreed it would not prevent the boys from playing.
“Your ability to play sports shouldn’t be contingent on your parents’ ability to afford an attorney,” Stitt said to a standing ovation from Republican legislators. “It’s time to eliminate the OSSAA and secure our progress with open transfer.”
In a Feb. 27 statement to Oklahoma Voice, Tevis Hillis, a Governor’s Office spokesperson, did not call for disbanding the OSSAA, but said Stitt “appreciated the strong, unified reaction during his State of the State address as the entire room applauded his call to rethink how the OSSAA operates.”
She said Stitt’s goal is to “align school athletics with the state’s open transfer reforms so students can compete for the schools they attend.” Lawmakers in 2021 passed a law, known as the Education Open Transfer Act, that allows students to transfer to other districts at any point in the year as long as there is capacity.
‘Thumbed their nose’
Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, said lawmakers have found that the OSSAA is not responsive when approached with concerns.
“The organization, multiple times, has pretty much thumbed their nose at the Legislature, saying, ‘We don’t work for you, you’re not a part of us,’” he said.
Still, he said wants “no part in running that organization.”
“I think that organization needs to stay intact. I think, overall, they do a pretty good job,” he said.
Paxton said he would like to see the OSSAA’s board expanded by three members, one each appointed by the governor, Senate president pro tem and House speaker.
But, a Senate measure that would have done that narrowly failed to clear a committee last week in a 6-4 vote.
The bill’s author, Sen. Ally Seifried, R-Claremore, said though her legislation stalled, “the issue is not going away.”
It’s time that the OSSAA’s leaders “take a good, hard look” and figure out how to be supportive of Oklahoma athletes and their member schools, said Seifried, a former college athlete.
Seifried said nearly every summer she receives requests for assistance from constituents regarding sports eligibility. Most recently, a student left a school due to bullying but was moving back to play golf. She said she had to write a letter to the OSSAA stating that it was ridiculous the organization refused to allow him to compete.
Although the OSSAA purports to be an optional organization that serves its members, every week it’s “in the news for doing something that is not reflective of what Oklahomans believe,” she said.
“I represent parents and students and families who just want their kids to play sports for four years and have to go through so many hoops and get attorneys so that their kids can participate in four years of sports,” Seifried said.
Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, proposed a bill that would have replaced the OSSAA with a state-run Oklahoma Athletic and Activities Commission. The bill failed to advance without receiving a committee hearing.
Murdock said he didn’t necessarily want it to become law, but said the “heat’s been turned up” on the OSSAA.
“I just want a better experience for our kids, whether it’s basketball, whether it’s one-act play, whether it’s any extracurricular activity that the OSSAA oversees,” he said.
Nuria Martinez-Keel contributed to this report.
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