As most people who follow and support Oklahoma high school sports know, competitive equity for public and private schools in the OSSAA has been a contentious issue since the late 1970's. There have been several efforts by OSSAA member schools to "level the playing field" for both public and private school members. A committee was eventually formed in 2009 to study the issue, after more than 30 years of perceived inequity between public schools and their private counterparts. The seventeen member committee was made up of 13 public schools and 4 private school members. After many months of meetings and negotiations, the competitive equity committee provided a recommendation to the OSSAA for re-classification of public and private schools in Oklahoma. The new classification plan became effective for member schools beginning in 2012. After 6 years of implementation, the classification plan was judged a complete and utter failure by most OSSAA members and even several committee members from that 2009 group. Among the reasons provided by those former committee members for the failed effort, was that even though private schools made up only 5% of OSSAA membership, the committee membership reflected a disproportunately high percentage of private schools at 23.5%. This ensured the recommended plan would be excessively convoluted and complicated, and allowed for private schools to circumvent the intent of the rule. Many experts, including former committee members, believe this "rigged" plan was intentionally doomed to failure.
After implementation of the 2010 competitive equity plan was judged a "bust" by many members, as many private schools actually accelerated dominance, efforts began anew in 2017 for competitive equity in the OSSAA. Since the beginning of 2018, dozens if not hundreds of member school signatures were gathered for proposing three separate competitive equity plans to the OSSAA for consideration. All three plans were modeled after plans in other states that were successful in establishing competitive equity for all member schools. All three competitive equity classification plans were rejected by the OSSAA.
Unbeknownst to many member schools (I know I was kept in the dark), the OSSAA appointed yet another committee in 2019 - to study the issue further and provide a recommendation for implementation to the OSSAA. The committee met for the fourth and final time on Wednesday, June 12, and will provide a recommendation to the OSSAA on August 7, 2019.
The 2019 Public Equity Committee members who will make the recommendation are from:
1) Pauls Valley; 2) Bishop McGuinness; 3) Adair (Chair); 4) Bishop Kelley; 5) Amber-Pocasset;
6) Mt. St. Mary; 7) Duncan; 8) Metro-Christian Academy
Fifty percent of the committee is made up of public schools and fifty percent is private. It looks fair and unbiased... right? Bear in mind that none of the public school committee members were on the 2009 committee, but all four of the private school members were. A closer look at the four privates which will influence the final recommendation for competitive equity reveals that Bishop Kelly High School, with 99 state titles during its existence, has a higher winning percentage than any public school in the state. Its nearest public school competitor has about 70 state titles. It is very likely that any plan which reduces the rate of state championships for BK will be vetoed. Bishop McGuinness High School showed up for the last committee recommendation in 2010 with its "dream team" of attorneys, and threatened to sue the OSSAA if a plan was drafted which established competitive equity, and reduced its state title acquisitions. (It currently has 87 state titles, second only to BK). Fortunately for the OSSAA, it forwarded a plan which did nothing to restore competitive equity. Mt St. Mary was involved in the volleyball debacle of 2017, in which one private school was bumped up not one, but two classifications - to Mt. Saint Mary's classification, and promply beat them for the state title. It occurred because of the convoluted and complicated do-nothing Rule 14. If not for Rule 14, Mt.Saint Mary would have been a state champion. Metro-Christian High School just dropped two classification levels (from 4A to 2A) for OSSAA competition. Many people believe that Metro-Christian intentionally did this in order to be more like BK and BM.
There you have it. It is understandable for sports fans to believe that the four private school members of the committee will be more influential in the final recommendation than the four publics. Only time will tell, since a final recommendation will be made on August 7 at the OSSAA building.
July 19, 2019 Update: Mike Brown of the Tulsa World wrote an article for the June 19 high school sports edition concerning the August 7 OSSAA meeting and the new "competitive equity" plan to be recommended. In the article, Mr. Brown quotes Brad Rogers, Adair athletic director and committee chair, as saying "Probably the most important things we took from our 'double top-secret' (my quote) meetings is that it seems to be leveling the field in some sports..." and "Football and baseball, two of the sports with the most participation statewide, have seen little perceived dominance by private schools...". Brown also quotes Bishop Kelly athletic director and committee member Lance Parks - "I would say the meetings were significantly fruitful,"... and "The data shed some light on where the rule has been effective in the past...".
So there you have it - Rule 14 will be slightly tweaked for some sports, but not for some major sports such as football, baseball, and basketball. It seems the committee has missed the point of its mission. The committee should not have just considered public and private schools success rates, but the success rates for all schools, public and private, which offer scholarships and select students. I will also provide scientific analyses of data which refutes the committee evidence that football and basketball have not seen domination by private and public schools which offer scholarships. The analysis for football can be read here.
July 25, 2019 Update: As noted above, the competitive equity committee chair believes football has seen little perceived dominance by private schools, insinuating no change is in store for the sport of football. Mike Brown of the Tulsa World quoted Bishop Kelly athletic director as saying "The data shed some light on where the rule has been effective in the past...". The BK AD implies that Rule 14 has been effective for football and baseball, so needs no "tweaking". It is unclear what data Lance Parks has analyzed to reach this conclusion, and we won't know until August 7 at the next regular meeting of the OSSAA directors.
A simple preliminary analysis of data for competitive equity in Oklahoma high school football
There are 322 member schools which participate in football. Approximately 23 (7.1%) of those private and public schools provide student financial assistance in the form of scholarships, housing, etc... or select students for enrollment, while 299 (92.9%) member schools do not. The OSSAA has decried that "prolonged success is defined as being among the final eight teams in postseason play." In 2011, one year before the implementation of Rule 14 - Six (6) member schools which provide scholarships or select students were among the final eight in all classes, which represented 10.7%. Fifty (50) member schools which do not provide scholarships or select students were among the final eight for football, or 89.3%.
In 2018, after six years of Rule 14 - Eleven (11) or 19.6% of members which provide scholarships or select students were among the final eight in postseason play for football, and forty-five (45) or 80.4% of members which do not provide scholarships were among the final eight.
An analysis of the above data indicates that Rule 14 has not been effective for leveling the playing field in OSSAA football.
July 26, 2019 Update: On September 13, 2018, a Senate Interim Study was held at the state capitol which addressed competitive equity in the OSSAA. Those in attendance know that some speakers were cut short by the Senate Chair, while others were allowed to continue ad nauseam. A hint of an effective plan for competitive equity was provided, however, in the line of questioning from two senators. The answers were provided by Assistant Executive Director Mike Whaley. The conversation went something like this -
Senator Ron Sharp: Mr. Whaley, are there other activities associations other than the OSSAA which private schools may participate in?
Mike Whaley: Yes
Senator Ron Sharp: Is there any other activities association that public schools may participate, other than the OSSAA?
Mike Whaley: No
Senator Gary Stanislawski: Is there something else that public schools may do 'to solve this problem'?
Mike Whaley: Yes
Senator Stanislawski asked Mike Whaley if action may be taken by "public schools" (not the OSSAA) which may resolve the competitive equity issue. Mike Whaley answered yes, indicating that public schools can do something. The answer to the inevitable next question: What can public schools do to resolve the competitive equity problem? is indicated in the questions from Senator Sharp and Mike Whaley's answers above...
July 28, 2019 Update: Since baseball was mentioned as a sport which Rule 14 has been effective for establishing competitive equity for membership, a preliminary analysis can be read here.
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