The state’s high school athletics organizing association voted Thursday to implement new confines for Colorado’s private schools, with the hope of leveling the playing field for public schools.
In recent years, private schools have dominated large-school football. Mullen won three consecutive Class 5A state championships before last season, and Valor Christian is a three-time defending champion in football, with one 3A title under its belt and two in 4A. Regis Jesuit, meanwhile, has emerged as a sports powerhouse across the board.
The success of the private schools in multiple sports and classifications has led rivals to focus on advantages they hold over their public counterparts.
Under the new rule, a private school’s attendance boundary will be defined as “the public school district in which the private school is physically located.” In essence, the rule makes it more difficult for a public-school high school athlete to transfer mid-career to a private school in the same school district.
“I’m for whatever is going to create, in people’s minds, an equal playing field, and if this is the same thing that everyone else is doing, I don’t have a problem with it,” said Kelly Doherty, the athletic director at Regis Jesuit, who said his school doesn’t have many transfer students.
The vote at the Colorado High School Activities Association’s legislative council meeting was quick and relatively quiet. Paul Angelico, the CHSAA commissioner, was the lone voice before the vote — and even then, he was only clarifying what the rule would mean. It passed by a 54-15 margin.
“It tries to create some equity,” Angelico said, while allowing that, “It probably does put a little more stringent rules on private schools.”
That’s because whereas a public school’s boundary is defined as its attendance area, a private school’s boundary is the combined attendance area of every school in the district where it’s located.
For example, if a student in the Cherry Creek School District were to move from Eaglecrest’s boundary to within Cherokee Trail’s boundary and transfer from Eaglecrest to Cherokee Trail, CHSAA would see that as a bona-fide move and the athlete could play right away.
“We would allow the public-school kid to choose” between the two public schools, said Bert Borgmann, a CHSAA assistant commissioner.
But if a student were to make that same move and try to transfer from Eaglecrest to Regis Jesuit, the athlete would have to sit out half the season under the transfer rule because Regis Jesuit’s new boundary encompasses the entirety of the Cherry Creek School District.
Still, the athlete could move into Douglas County, for example, and play right away at Valor Christian, a private school in the area.
“That’d be a 20-mile move or so, so probably a change in schools would be necessary,” Borgmann said. “It’s all about, ’Does a change in schools really need to occur?’ “
An athlete can’t become immediately eligible after a transfer simply because of a physical move. The state association handles each transfer on a case-by-case basis, and there are many factors that go into eligibility.
