On Tuesday, the Alabama House of Representatives passed House Bill 298, that would not count students who are English language (EL) learners towards enrollment for classification from the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA). 

Rep. Brock Colvin, of Albertville, first introduced the bill back in February and the AHSAA publicly came out in opposition of the bill. Colvin publicly stated that a rise of EL learners has forced schools to move up in classifications in recent years. He said that few EL students participate in sports, so it causes an unfair disadvantage to schools with large EL students. This bill would mean EL learners wouldn’t count towards enrollment for the first five years that student attends the school unless the student plays a sport. The AHSAA ranks schools in Class 1A through Class 7A for sports competition, with 7A schools having the largest enrollment and 1A having the smallest.

AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon released a statement on Tuesday in opposition to the bill. Harmon emphasized that the AHSAA is a private association governed by member schools and does not accept public funds of any kind. 

Harmon said that this bill would establish a separate criteria for classifying public and private school members. Harmon also pointed out that the bill would allow an EL student who had not declared that he/she were going to play a sport prior to reclassification to then be able to decide to participate after reclassification, and that student would not count toward classification fo their school.

“As many of you know, one student can affect classification,” Harmons said. “Sports with a high percentage of EL students would have an advantage over areas of the state with few EL students.” 

Colvin pointed to Albertville High School’s football team as an example of EL student populations negatively affecting certain schools. Albertville, which has a large immigrant population due to poultry plants in the area, moved up from Class 5A to Class 7A over the past 20 years. Since moving to 7A, Albertville has gone 4-46 with back-to-back zero win seasons.

Hurting Colvin’s claim is the fact that Albertville Football has had just five winning seasons since 2003, including a stretch as a part of 5A where the school won just four games over a three-year period. The Aggies have not won a playoff game since 2002 either. The Albertville basketball team, however, has won 20 games or more in each of the last two seasons as a part of 7A.  

Harmon pointed out that a similar proposal was brought up before the AHSAA previously and only 27 percent of member schools voted to adopt the proposal. Harmon also found an amendment that would place political appointments to the AHSAA’s board troubling.

“The bill was amended and called for the placement of a member of the House and a member of the Senate on the AHSAA’s private board,” he continued. “Since we are a private association, with our board makeup established under a federal court order, we would be the only private board with a mandate for political representation, which would inject politics in high school sports. We strive to keep politics out of the boardroom and focus on doing what is best for all student athletes.” 

Harmon also called into question the House bypassing the AHSAA to implement rules that would affect member schools.

“A classification directive that does not go through our democratic legislative process and classification committee lacks the support and thorough vetting that is necessary for successful implementation,” said Harmon. “As an Association, we are committed to supporting all member schools in all sports in addition to promoting participation. This bill is in direct opposition to those commitments.” 

The House passed the bill 72-1 with 29 abstentions. Pike County representative Marcus Paramore voted “yes” on the bill. It will now move on to the State Senate. If the bill passes, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey would then need to sign the bill into law.