Lawmakers Return Decisions On Athletic Transfers To SSAC

The West Virginia Legislature repealed a law that allowed students to transfer schools without losing athletic eligibility.  

For three years, students have been allowed to transfer to schools they feel better meet their needs. The result, say opponents of the law, has been an aggressive recruiting effort by some coaches that has become problematic and unfair.  

House Bill 4425 repeals that measure and brought out passionate arguments on the Senate floor, both for and against. 

“This is the type of legislation that makes it clear that, unfortunately, our children do not have lobbyists here in this Capitol,” said Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, during debate on Friday. 

“There are 15 high schools in this state that have had more than five students transfer into it. Clearly there is some recruiting happening by coaches. Are we doing something about those coaches? No, the solution is, let’s take away the protection for all students in the state of West Virginia to be able to pick where they should go,” Rucker said. 

Sen. Brian Helton, R-Fayette, also opposed the bill. 

“If you believe in school choice, if you believe in parents’ rights, if you believe that children should have the opportunity to go where they’ll thrive and be successful, this isn’t just about sports. This is about children discovering opportunities for academic achievement, to do better socially, to do better based on what their parents decide, not what an unelected bureaucratic board of people decide,” Helton said.

“I feel like I’ve been handed a plate of pickled beets or boiled okra. I don’t want to eat either one of them,” Sen. Kevan Bartlett, R-Kanawha, said.

“I wish we were having a debate about, we got too many kids flocking to schools because their math program is dominant. Or their history department is outstanding. No, it’s about sports,” Bartlett said. “I understand the value of school choice, but school choice, my view, is always rooted in the culture and the academics.”

Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, was a high school athlete and is now a teacher, coach and the parent of an athlete. She said under the current law, even though recruiting isn’t allowed, it has happened. 

That, she said, has led some student athletes to treat high school sports more like a professional marketplace in a way that has damaged the integrity of high school sports and the educational mission behind them.

“The reality is that coaches, boosters or outside groups and even other student athletes are encouraging athletes to transfer, and this creates serious ethical issues,” Grady said. “High school athletics should be about participation, about discipline and representing that place you call home. 

We’ve turned something meant to build character into a system that mirrors college free agency.”

The bill passed the Senate 20 to 14, a move that reverts decision-making on athletic transfers back to the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission (SSAC).