Commentary; Posted: 4/11/07
Let MSHSL control student transfer issue
By Don Heinzman
Minnesota Legislature should not get involved in student transfer issues.
Minnesota legislators should stick to important business and leave the matter of high school athletes transferring to neighboring schools alone.
Ever since open enrollment for high school students began, high school athletes and their parents have been using the law to join neighboring teams with the hopes of getting to the state tournament and obtaining college scholarships.
This past tournament season, high school students on high profile teams such as the St. Paul Central girls and the Braham high school boys teams, started athletes from other schools.
The Minnesota State High School League, after studying the issue of athletes transferring to other schools without any ineligibility, decided by a vote of 48-0 to make it harder but not impossible to transfer to another school’s ball club.
Under the new ruling, the transferring athlete would lose a year of varsity eligibility unless the parents moved into the new school district.
The rule does allow for exceptions and waivers for athletes who transfer for legitimate academic reasons.
The League acted because it knows of cases where athletes abused the system, joined what amounted to all-star teams and bumped kids who had earned starting roles.
What stands out is the data.
In 2005-2006 of the 2300 students who changed high schools, 1500 were athletes, who all didn’t transfer for academic reasons.
Dave Stead, executive director of the Minnesota State High School League, says the issue is kids transferring for better athletic opportunities. “Our schools never believed that is why students should be able to transfer,” Stead says.
The Minnesota Legislature is sticking its nose into the issue contending the new rule interferes with open enrollment. Rep. Debra Hillstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, has a bill that’s gaining some support and reverts to the old transfer rule. She says the coaches should be punished for recruiting out-of-district students rather than the child.
This, however, is not a case of punishing anyone. Under the old rule, the student athlete legally used open enrollment to live in their hometown and attend school in a neighboring district. In fact, under the old rule, they could transfer again and only lose a half-year of eligibility.
There are some who argue that this rule could make it harder for parents of poor families to transfer their kids under open enrollment, because in the case of athletes and the new rule, parents would have to move to the new school district. It is a valid but not an over riding concern.
Open enrollment, which gives parents more choices for their students, was not intended to open up the abuse of high school athletes transferring to another school because they didn’t like their own coach, or their team’s chances.
It was meant primarily to give opportunities to students who wanted better math, science, literature and music classes and teachers.
This high school league rule doesn’t stand in the way of students transferring for academic reasons or even for other extracurricular reasons. It does make it more difficult for athletes, who may or may not be good students, to transfer to another high school.
The penalty is not excessive — one year of ineligibility on the varsity team without moving to the new district.
The Minnesota State High School League has studied this issue for a long time and made its ruling which should be allowed to work, without interference from the Minnesota Legislature.
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