Subcommittee advances bill to create new South Carolina High School Athletic Association

The House Education and Public Works Subcommittee advanced H.4163, a bill that would create a nonprofit South Carolina High School Athletic Association to govern interscholastic athletics and set rules for participation, transfers and appeals.

The measure would form a board of directors that includes a delegate from the state superintendent of education, appointees from House and Senate leadership and caucuses, two governor appointees recommended by the South Carolina Association of School Administrators, and other members. The bill states the association would be funded through membership fees, ticket receipts from playoff games and similar sources, and it would hire a director and set an appellate process. The bill as amended also creates a standing advisory committee appointed by the association director.

Why it matters: H.4163 would shift statutory governance of high school athletics to a newly created nonprofit corporation and codify membership, funding streams and an appellate path for eligibility and transfer disputes — issues that drew repeated concern from athletic directors, coaches and lawmakers at the hearing.

Several athletic administrators told the subcommittee they support local school involvement in rulemaking and said the existing South Carolina High School League has become more transparent in recent years. Tommy Bell, who identified himself as a high school athletic director and as president of the South Carolina Athletic Administrators Association, said, “I am a high school athletic director. I am the president of the South Carolina Athletic Administrators Association.” Bell urged lawmakers to let membership-driven change continue and warned against assuming the league’s current leadership is incompetent.

Jack Kosmicki, athletic director at Eastside High School and vice president of the South Carolina Athletic Administrators Association, told the subcommittee, “The South Carolina High School League is made up of the member schools. We are the high school league.” Kosmicki explained that membership — not only league staff — proposes and votes on changes to bylaws and rules at the league’s March meetings.

Jerome Singleton, commissioner of the South Carolina High School League, described the league’s long history and the membership process used to set rules and address issues such as transfers and participation by homeschool, private and charter students. “The league has been in place since 1913,” Singleton said, and he described the league’s process for vetting rule changes and for operating under provisos that occasionally appear in the annual appropriations act.

Committee action: The subcommittee adopted an amendment creating a seven‑member advisory committee to the association’s board of directors that the association director would appoint; members would serve four‑year terms and meet as their bylaws require. The amendment was adopted by voice and roll call and the subcommittee then reported the bill favorably as amended to the full committee.

What remained unsettled at the hearing were several operational questions raised by lawmakers — including how the association’s board would select designees, whether the statutorily described board would have sufficient bandwidth to manage day‑to‑day operations, and how the appellate process would operate in time‑sensitive eligibility disputes.

The subcommittee vote to adopt the amendment and to report H.4163 to the full committee were unanimous on recorded roll calls. The record shows the subcommittee sent the bill forward by voice and roll call vote and recorded all ayes on the motions to adopt the amendment and to report the bill as amended.