Committee debates broad WVSSAC reform bill; members raise concerns about funding, authority and competitive balance

The West Virginia Senate Education Committee devoted extensive discussion to the committee substitute for Senate Bill 8804, titled the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission Reform Act. Counsel explained the substitute would incorporate public charter schools, shift membership representation from principals to athletic directors, require the commission’s rules to follow standard state agency rulemaking and legislative review, provide for an executive director whose decisions could be appealed to the intermediate court of appeals, and expand commission oversight to certain nonpublic students, including homeschool and HOPE scholarship students.

Counsel summarized the substitute: “The proposed committee substitute for this bill creates the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission Reform Act. It requires public charter schools to exercise the control of all extracurricular activities of the students in their schools and otherwise incorporates public charter schools into existing commission provisions.” Counsel also told the committee the substitute would “require the rules include a school classification system based on a competitive balance formula, which includes the number of transfers a school has received and other factors,” and that appeals would be filed to the intermediate court of appeals.

Witnesses and committee members raised multiple practical and policy concerns. David Price, executive director of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, said the commission’s current timeline and rule process can delay implementation and expressed concern that some language in the substitute could create unintended consequences for coaches, classification and recruiting. Price told the committee the SSAC’s annual budget is about $2.5 million, the association employs nine staff, and the organization operates on ticket revenue and corporate sponsorships rather than direct state tax dollars. He warned that making the SSAC a state agency could affect sponsorships and revenue streams the commission uses to reimburse schools and run tournaments.

Tim George, athletic director at Spring Valley High School and representative of the West Virginia Athletic Directors Association, praised the commission’s tournament operation: “Both tournaments were extremely well organized, fun, and all about the kids,” and said WVSSAC provides leadership and continuity for education-based athletics across West Virginia. By contrast, Jamie Talman, an athletic director from Grant County, argued that the SSAC “does not need reformed” and warned that creating a state agency could end longstanding corporate sponsorships and require schools to pay dues again. Talman and other local athletic directors urged retention of the SSAC’s local, education-based structure and asked for continued academic accountability for homeschool or private students who gain eligibility to participate.

Committee members also pressed for clarity on classification and transfer tracking. Price said informal surveys suggest more than 1,000 student transfers for athletic reasons in the last year and a half, and he described the difficulty of building a reliable transfer-tracking component into a competitive balance formula. Price noted the SSAC currently serves 124 high schools and that reclassification has produced contentious outcomes in some sports, notably football.

The committee did not take a vote on the substitute. The chair said the committee will “originate a study resolution on Monday out of this committee” to continue examination of SSAC reform proposals.