Senate Passes Bill Forcing UIL To Accept Private Schools

[TexasHSFootball]

http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=80R&Bill=SB1943

This afternoon, the full Senate passed SB 1943 by Senator Dan Patrick by a vote of 28-3.The bill will now go to the House where it will likely be referred to the House Public Education Committee sometime next week.On Tuesday, the House Public Education committee heard testimony on HB 2588 by Rep. Frank Corte, which is the companion to SB 1943.HB 2588 was left pending in committee.

A summary of SB 1943 as passed is below.

The bill would prohibit the UIL from denying a private school or its students the opportunity to participate in an activity sponsored by the league or the opportunity to become a member of an appropriate league district.
A private school or its students would have to satisfy each eligibility requirement by the UIL.
A private school seeking to participate in a league activity or to become a member of a league district would be required to apply to the UIL on a form prescribed by the UIL.
A private school would have to provide proof of accreditation.
The UIL could not impose eligibility requirements that exceed the requirements for public schools.
The appropriate league district in which an eligible private school would participate would be determined by multiplying the private school's enrollment by two and placing the private school in an appropriate league district based on an enrollment figure.
A private school could not be placed in a league district lower than the 2A level.
The bill would allow the UIL to adopt rules designed to discourage an eligible private school from recruiting any student to attend the school for the purpose of participating in a league activity.

This would seem to have the potential to have a major impact in the metropolitan areas of Texas, SA, Dallas/Ft Worth, Houston. In turn, it could significantly change some district alignments and the current split between region 1 and 2 and regions 3 and 4, depending upon how many private schools actually want to get into the UIL.

[JR2004]

Not a good day for high school athletics in Texas. Here's hoping Cornerstone, and schools similar to them who are associated and funded by dishonest hypocritical crooks (I'm sure those of you down south know that's a shot at John Hagee), get the score run up on them repeatedly in every sport they participate in against public schools.

[3afan]

this will have minimal impact ...

[JR2004]

.

[JR2004]

Originally posted by 3afan
i will have minimal impact ...

In the Metroplex it will have little effect on the powerhouse programs. Jesuit has done next to nothing trying to compete at the 5A level. However I can see where this law would have a bigger effect on certain areas.

[3afan]

Originally posted by JR2004
In the Metroplex it will have little effect on the powerhouse programs. Jesuit has done next to nothing trying to compete at the 5A level. However I can see where this law would have a bigger effect on certain areas.


true.................

[Maroon87]

Strake Jesuit has been competing in a UIL district for 3 years now.

[Phil C]

:eek: :( :rolleyes: :mad:

[Adidas410s]

Originally posted by Phil C
:eek: :( :rolleyes: :mad:

:confused:

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by TexasHSFootball

The bill would allow the UIL to adopt rules designed to discourage an eligible private school from recruiting any student to attend the school for the purpose of participating in a league activity. Yeah right.:rolleyes:

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
Yeah right.:rolleyes:
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: It's against the rules for public schools to recruit, but only "discouraged" for private schools that want to be included with competition against public schools? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Old Tiger]

Waco Reicher might have an effect.

[Tiger Baseball]

Midland Christian would have an effect in Basketball and Baseball for sure!

[mwynn05]

Originally posted by Tiger Baseball
Midland Christian would have an effect in Basketball and Baseball for sure! not if they have to play 5a

[3afan]

Originally posted by Maroon87
Strake Jesuit has been competing in a UIL district for 3 years now.

is this an all boys schools?

(Dallas Jesuit is ...)

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by 3afan
is this an all boys schools?

(Dallas Jesuit is ...) I believe that it is. And trust me when I say that there are numerous phone calls made to kids about attending this school. And guess who gets a large portion of scholarships?

[Maroon87]

Originally posted by 3afan
is this an all boys schools?

(Dallas Jesuit is ...)

Yes it is. There's an all-girls school right next door whose name escapes me.:thinking:

[AggiesAreWe]

Originally posted by Maroon87
Yes it is. There's an all-girls school right next door whose name escapes me.:thinking:

Could it be Dallas Jezabelle?

[setxsports]

Here's the catch! I think if Private Schools go Public next year they have to multiply their enrollment by 2. If that's the case then alot of them will stay in the Private Sector.

[Maroon87]

Originally posted by AggiesAreWe
Could it be Dallas Jezabelle?

Somehow I don't think that's it.;)


No it's next to Strake in Houston. St. Anne's or something like that.

[JasperDog94]

Look, if you really want to know the danger here, just look at our neighbors in Louisiana and check out the winners in their sports.

[JasperDog94]

Here's the beakdown of championship football games in Louisiana this year:

1A - 2 private schools
2A - 2 private schools (John Curtis won it's 5th title in 6 years)
3A - 2 public schools
4A - 1 public, 1 private
5A - 2 public schools

That's a total of 5 public and 5 private schools in the finals.

Let's look at baseball last year:

1A - 2 private schools
2A - 2 private schools
3A - 2 private schools
4A - 1 private, 1 public magnet school
5A - 2 public schools

That's a total of 3 public schools and 7 private schools in the finals.

Let's look at basketball:

1A - 2 private schools
2A - 1 public, 1 private
3A - 2 private schools
4A - 2 public magnet schools
5A - 2 public schools

That's a total of 6 public and 4 private schools in the finals.

Texas doesn't need to go this route.

[Phil C]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
Here's the beakdown of championship football games in Louisiana this year:

1A - 2 private schools
2A - 2 private schools (John Curtis won it's 5th title in 6 years)
3A - 2 public schools
4A - 1 public, 1 private
5A - 2 public schools

That's a total of 5 public and 5 private schools in the finals.

Let's look at baseball last year:

1A - 2 private schools
2A - 2 private schools
3A - 2 private schools
4A - 1 private, 1 public magnet school
5A - 2 public schools

That's a total of 3 public schools and 7 private schools in the finals.

Let's look at basketball:

1A - 2 private schools
2A - 1 public, 1 private
3A - 2 private schools
4A - 2 public magnet schools
5A - 2 public schools

That's a total of 6 public and 4 private schools in the finals.

Texas doesn't need to go this route.

Amen!

[3afan]

Originally posted by **********
Here's the catch! I think if Private Schools go Public next year they have to multiply their enrollment by 2. If that's the case then alot of them will stay in the Private Sector.

Jesuit is all boys so it makes sense they multiplied their enrolment by 2 (hence they are in 5A) .... but if a school is coed then that won't happen, it'll be straight boys+girls enrollment

[JR2004]

I called one of my friend's this morning after reading this and his take was this.

He said it won't have much impact, if any, on his team because he's coaching in 4A and possibly getting ready to move up to 5A next realignment. The schools that are going to get hit hard by this are the smaller classifications like 3A and 2A and I'd have to agree with him. You may not see it right off the bat, but eventually what Jasper posted about Louisiana is going to happen here in Texas and there won't be a darn thing you can do about it because of this idiotic and poorly thought out law.

What really incenses me about this is that I was under the impression that I lived in a state where the government was supposed to be as hands-off as possible and in this instance this is the state government forcing the UIL to do this. The UIL should not be forced to take in schools like Cornerstone, among many, many others, and I'd hope they'd at least appeal this decision in court. This whole situation really hacks me off, especially since this bill was proposed by the Dr. Nick of politicians in Dan Patrick. There's just no justification for this at all. If people thought the UIL was chaotic before, just wait until they have to deal with these private schools. They'll be pretty much powerless to regulate what they do and who goes to those schools.

[dogdad]

consider the long-term implications of this
over time, private schools will be successful in encouraging certain athletes to come
over time some powerhouse privates will emerge just as they have in La. and Calif.
over time we will all rue the day when the UIL added privates
the private schools have their own league
there is no need for them to come into the UIL
write you state legislator
this is b.s.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it any more

[JR2004]

Originally posted by dogdad
consider the long-term implications of this
over time, private schools will be successful in encouraging certain athletes to come
over time some powerhouse privates will emerge just as they have in La. and Calif.
over time we will all rue the day when the UIL added privates
the private schools have their own league
there is no need for them to come into the UIL
write you state legislator
this is b.s.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it any more

I'm just as mad. Dan Patrick introduced this bill. I'd hope anyone unlucky enough to be in his district would send him an email or a letter protesting this. I know I'll be sending a letter to my local state senator and congressman about this. The UIL wasn't really given a choice. They tried to keep Cornerstone out of the UIL. Why should the UIL have to take in a school that was kicked out of tapps for multiple rules violations?

It just doesn't make any sense at all. The state government, for all intensive purposes, caved in to John Hagee and other folks of his ilk on this and that is shameful at best. I'm sure there's some folks reading about this who aren't seeing the long-term implications of what is going to transpire when you bring these private schools into the mix, but I'd hope enough folks would see the light so to speak so that maybe this decision can be reversed.

[sinton66]

Hmmmmm, sounds like a plan to get public money to private schools.