By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The 2022-23 school year will not be impacted but a big change could be coming for prep sports in Kansas. In June, the Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) let its member schools vote on a private-school multiplier in an effort to level the playing field. The schools voted 216-139 in favor of the change, and the matter is now before the state board of education. With approval there, the change would still need approved by the Kansas legislature.
The rule change would impact only those private schools that have excelled in team activities. Under the "championship factor," if a school wins five to nine team state championships in a five-year period, the enrollment would be multiplied by 0.15. The multiplier grows to 0.30 for schools with 10 or more championships in a five-year period. The end goal is to push winning schools up a classification to better competition.
If a school meets the championship factor, other considerations also come into play, including the size of the community in which the school is located, and socio-economic factors based on the free and reduced-lunch rate at the school.
Results of the June vote are an indication of which schools are impacted most. Eighty-three percent of Class 4A schools voted in favor of the change, compared to just 17 percent of Class 6A schools, and 47 percent of Class 5A schools.
The 2022 football season is prime reason why Class 4A schools voted for the change. Bishop Miege won a series of five-straight football titles from 2014-19. That run has been stopped only by St. James Academy, which has won the last two 4A titles. This year, the classification is joined by St. Thomas Aquinas, a team that has made the Class 5A state semifinals for eight-consecutive seasons with three trips to the finals and a state title in 2018.
By preseason rankings, two of the top Class 5A football teams this season are private schools, the top-three teams in 4A are private schools, and Class 3A also has two private schools in its preseason top-five. St. Mary’s Colgan is picked to lead Class 1A.
The domination extends well beyond the gridiron. Wichita’s Bishop Carroll has won eight state softball titles since 2001. Private schools have won five of the last seven Class 5A boys' track titles, and seven of the last 11 5A girls' track titles. Wichita Collegiate, Wichita Independent, Sacred Heart, and Kansas City Christian, in some variation, swept the Class 3-2-1A and 4A girls' tennis titles from 2016 to 2020. Collegiate has won 13-straight girls' tennis titles. Bishop Miege has won 22 girls’ basketball titles in the program’s 46-year history. Salina’s Sacred Heart has won seven-straight Class 2A boys’ golf titles, and four of last year’s boys’ champions across the classifications were private schools. Aquinas has won the last eight 5A boys' cross country titles, and Bishop Carroll won the five years prior to that. Emporia, winners in 2007, is the only public school to win a 5A boys' cross country title since 2004.
The state board of education discussed the proposal at a meeting earlier this month and expects to vote on the matter in September.