FHSAA feels pressure as legislators threaten future
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billmurray
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footballfan1
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Re: FHSAA feels pressure as legislators threaten future
I was unable to read it as it says page requested unavailable.
Could you highlight the article?
Could you highlight the article?
Re: FHSAA feels pressure as legislators threaten future
Is this it?
http://www.tampabay.com/sports/football ... es/2222859
Basically, there won't be any transfer restrictions.
A horrible decision, really. You will create super teams in any moderately sized city.
http://www.tampabay.com/sports/football ... es/2222859
Basically, there won't be any transfer restrictions.
A horrible decision, really. You will create super teams in any moderately sized city.
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billmurray
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Re: FHSAA feels pressure as legislators threaten future
ate Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., the Hialeah Republican who authored a bill that eventually could eliminate the Florida High School Athletic Association, hit the nail on the head as he pushed his proposal through the House Education Committee last week.
"It would be naïve of us to think that a student now doesn't have the option to leave their neighborhood and go play quarterback at another school because of all the open-enrollment programs that exist," Diaz said during discussion that preceded a 12-5 vote in favor of his bill (PCB EDC 15-02).
What I would add is that it would be naïve for any of us to think anybody other than our state Legislature opened the door to the free agency for which Florida now is renowned.
The FHSAA didn't relax its regulations willingly. Legislators began chipping away at Florida's once-powerful governing body in 1996 when it first forced the association to ease restrictions on transfers to accommodate school choice. Nearly 20 years later, FHSAA is waving a white flag and hoping lawmakers will show some mercy.
The power brokers have all but knocked the stuffing out of an aged organization that stayed stubborn for about as long as it could.
Watch the webcast of last Thursday's lopsided committee debate on TheFloridaChannel.org, and you'll hear FHSAA lobbyist Juhan Mixon say: "We've come to agreement on a lot of issues that were brought up in the bill."
I believe he meant the FHSAA has realized it has no choice but to surrender.
Mixon's primary plea was for the committee to take out the passage that states the FHSAA can be replaced by another nonprofit organization on July 1, 2017.
"Let's remove that provision from the bill," he said.
The FHSAA was founded in 1920 by 29 high-school principals.
None of those guys saw magnet programs, charter schools and home-schoolers coming. They did see a need to have fair and balanced sports competition, a concept that seems lost today. Lawmakers have given us an imbalance of power that brings running-clock, "mercy-rule" games to state tournaments.
The FHSAA brought this on itself by failing to find a balance that prevents mass migration of top athletes while meeting open-enrollment mandates. That allowed its detractors to gain a foothold.
I would prefer that educators and coaches steer the evolution of high-school sports, but in the absence of that leadership, Diaz, as a former college baseball player, teacher and school vice principal, is qualified to lead the discussion.
He has done his homework, and much of his bill has merit, including portions that would guarantee a speedier appeals process and make reasons for ineligibility more specific and clear-cut.
The bill retains standards such as minimum grade-point averages and bans on accepting impermissible benefits or inducements to play for a team. Diaz assured listeners it still includes a 19-year-old age limit and a limit of four years of athletic participation, starting with the ninth grade.
No longer would the FHSAA's board of directors make final eligibility rulings. Instead, appeals would end before a "neutral third party," not a horrible concept.
"There's a big to-do about whether a student can just go wherever they want," Diaz said. "This bill does nothing to open up recruiting. The same reasons that you can be found guilty of recruiting are the same that are currently in place."
Rarely is anybody found guilty of recruiting these days, no matter how many transfers arrive in time for tryouts. It's a new age.
The House bill appears to be on a fast track to be approved. I don't know that a companion Senate bill (SB 1480) is going to succeed where similar legislation failed a year ago. As of midweek, it had not been scheduled for a hearing.
The FHSAA waits and watches, its future uncertain.
"It would be naïve of us to think that a student now doesn't have the option to leave their neighborhood and go play quarterback at another school because of all the open-enrollment programs that exist," Diaz said during discussion that preceded a 12-5 vote in favor of his bill (PCB EDC 15-02).
What I would add is that it would be naïve for any of us to think anybody other than our state Legislature opened the door to the free agency for which Florida now is renowned.
The FHSAA didn't relax its regulations willingly. Legislators began chipping away at Florida's once-powerful governing body in 1996 when it first forced the association to ease restrictions on transfers to accommodate school choice. Nearly 20 years later, FHSAA is waving a white flag and hoping lawmakers will show some mercy.
The power brokers have all but knocked the stuffing out of an aged organization that stayed stubborn for about as long as it could.
Watch the webcast of last Thursday's lopsided committee debate on TheFloridaChannel.org, and you'll hear FHSAA lobbyist Juhan Mixon say: "We've come to agreement on a lot of issues that were brought up in the bill."
I believe he meant the FHSAA has realized it has no choice but to surrender.
Mixon's primary plea was for the committee to take out the passage that states the FHSAA can be replaced by another nonprofit organization on July 1, 2017.
"Let's remove that provision from the bill," he said.
The FHSAA was founded in 1920 by 29 high-school principals.
None of those guys saw magnet programs, charter schools and home-schoolers coming. They did see a need to have fair and balanced sports competition, a concept that seems lost today. Lawmakers have given us an imbalance of power that brings running-clock, "mercy-rule" games to state tournaments.
The FHSAA brought this on itself by failing to find a balance that prevents mass migration of top athletes while meeting open-enrollment mandates. That allowed its detractors to gain a foothold.
I would prefer that educators and coaches steer the evolution of high-school sports, but in the absence of that leadership, Diaz, as a former college baseball player, teacher and school vice principal, is qualified to lead the discussion.
He has done his homework, and much of his bill has merit, including portions that would guarantee a speedier appeals process and make reasons for ineligibility more specific and clear-cut.
The bill retains standards such as minimum grade-point averages and bans on accepting impermissible benefits or inducements to play for a team. Diaz assured listeners it still includes a 19-year-old age limit and a limit of four years of athletic participation, starting with the ninth grade.
No longer would the FHSAA's board of directors make final eligibility rulings. Instead, appeals would end before a "neutral third party," not a horrible concept.
"There's a big to-do about whether a student can just go wherever they want," Diaz said. "This bill does nothing to open up recruiting. The same reasons that you can be found guilty of recruiting are the same that are currently in place."
Rarely is anybody found guilty of recruiting these days, no matter how many transfers arrive in time for tryouts. It's a new age.
The House bill appears to be on a fast track to be approved. I don't know that a companion Senate bill (SB 1480) is going to succeed where similar legislation failed a year ago. As of midweek, it had not been scheduled for a hearing.
The FHSAA waits and watches, its future uncertain.