Coaches Confidential: Do charter and private schools make NCHSAA playoffs unfair? (2024)

Two of the nine core values of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association are "fair play" and "fair competition."

Living up to those noble ideals, however, can be easier said than done.

With 432 schools — ranging from around 30 students to around 3,700 — and just four classifications to work with, creating an even playing field is a challenge, and many believe the NCHSAA has failed to live up to, particularly regarding the rise of charter schools.

The Citizen Times and Times News included questions about playoff fairness in its 'Coaches Confidential' series, which allowed WNC coaches to anonymously answer questions about several high school sports topics.

Here are some of their thoughts on charter schools and playoff fairness the NCHSAA.

COACHES CONFIDENTIAL PART ONE: What rule change would you like to see in your sport?

PART TWO: Who are the best WNC athletes your team has faced?

PART THREE: How many classifications should the NCHSAA have?

Does the NCHSAA do enough to address charter schools and playoff fairness?

"It is really out of their hands at this point. The legislature will never allow them to take out charter schools. It is inherently unfair that we, as a public 1A school from a small rural demographic, are competing with charter schools that are drawing from metropolitan areas with a million-plus population. The student body numbers are the same, but the best kids from these metro areas go to the charter school that excels in their given sport."

"Charter schools should only play charter schools. Private schools should not be playing in public sports. If they play and win a state championship, they must play up a class the next year or they must sit out a year in that sport. It’s not fair that private schools can get kids from out of their home county and from the whole county they are in."

"Absolutely not. If you look at soccer, you will notice that many of the 1A final four teams every year going back many years have been charter schools. These are charter schools in heavily populated areas where they can limit their school sizes but can draw soccer players from a really large population. Charter schools in these really populated areas should either have their own classification or have to move up one or two classifications."

"It will be a never-ending issue, but the best solution is to add more classifications to allow for more opportunities for NC schools that are similar in average daily enrollment numbers (ADM) to compete, especially the gap in 4A currently."

"I think the NCHSAA is taking the correct steps toward addressing the playoff issues, however, I think we still need to see some changes made as a smaller school. I feel we are always fighting an uphill battle againstprivate and charter schools."

"Absolutely they do NOT do enough to address this issue! The charter and private schools have robbed countless 1A athletes of state championships the last several years! The solution is simply they move up in classification or they have their own division."

"Charter schools should have to play up 1 classification."

"I do not agree with private and charter schools being a part of the playoff system.They are at a full advantage in that they can recruit players."

"I don't believe you should be able to compete against schools that have border restrictions if you are not required to have them yourself."

"I don’t think enough is done currently.My guess, though, is theproposal for the 7 classifications would be their answer to this. It is very discouraging seeing a school your size located in or right outside a major city in this state, and they are the same size as you because they can “control” population to an extent. It is very discouraging to players as well.Kids start moving away from public schools to these schools, which just makes matters worse."

"There have to be some regulations on the ability to pull students or allow students to live on campus. I feel that they should have a class of their own. Drawing from your area and building a program is hard enough in itself, but to also throw in basically an all-star team of athletes makes it hard to see the true potential in the area."

"It is unfair that the charter schools are allowed to play and compete with the public schools."

"I don't think charter schools, private schools, etc.. should be allowed to compete with public schools because they can pull from the area and typically dominate in sports such as cross country, track, tennis, swimming, etc."