Push to create separate state playoff system for public, private schools

High school sports in Western Pennsylvania could soon undergo a massive change.

More than 100 administrators are calling for a separate sports state playoff system for public and private schools. They say if change doesn't come soon, they may need to force it anyway.

New Castle Superintendent John Sanandrea is among those leading the charge. He and other administrators worry their teams are playing from behind before kickoff. They say the ability for private schools to play students coming from any district puts public schools at a disadvantage.

11 Investigates looked at the numbers. We went through every Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association championship in football, and boys and girls basketball, over the last five years. Two-thirds of the championship teams came from private or charter schools, even though those schools only make up 15 percent of the PIAA.

Sanandrea said it is no longer time to stay quiet.

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"Had the superintendents not screamed as loud as they have these past few months, I suspect the PIAA would have done nothing," Sanandrea said.

The PIAA already has taken steps to address the concerns. It just passed stricter rules for transfer students, requiring them to sit out the playoffs at their new school if they transferred after 10th grade. There is also the potential to move a school to a higher classification if they have playoff success while accepting a large number of transfers.

Sanandrea isn't satisfied.

"It really doesn't address the problem and it doesn't meet the sniff test for all of us," Sanandrea said.

Public schools want a separate playoff format for public and private schools, and are floating the idea of splitting from the PIAA all together if the issue isn't addressed.

"A number of schools, and I would imagine that would be predominantly in the west, could decide to secede from the union, so to speak," Sanandrea said.

We also spoke to state Sen. Jay Costa. He is one of six members of the Pennsylvania Athletic Oversight Committee.

"My preference would be they work within the PIAA and with the PIAA to find common ground," Costa said.

He's hopeful the changes made by the PIAA will help deal with the issues, and any kind of split will be avoided.

"I think the school districts are very serious in terms of wanting to make change. I just hope it doesn't get to the point where they would want to leave the PIAA," said Costa.

Cox Media Group