Board to move to end cooperative sports agreements after court challenge and PIAA rule change

At its meeting, the Mifflin County School District Board of Education discussed a plan to eliminate cooperative athletic agreements with parochial schools after a federal court filing and an expected PIAA rule change.

Board member Mr. Arnn, who presented the item, said a lawsuit filed by the Religious Rights Foundation in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and a pending PIAA third read in October mean students who attend a parochial or religious school would have the right to participate in home-district athletics for sports their school does not offer. “My recommendation at this point is that we eliminate those agreements,” Arnn said, adding that cooperative agreements are no longer necessary for students to participate at the public-school level and that removing the agreements would let students return to their resident districts to play those sports.

The board heard two operational reasons for the change: eligibility and athletic classification. District staff said eliminating cooperative agreements would prevent the district’s enrollment-count-based classification from being increased by the full enrollment of a cooperating private school; instead, only specific students who choose to play would be counted. Arnn cited girls field hockey as an example of a sport where a small number of students from a private school might otherwise bump the public school to a higher classification.

Staff briefed the board on practical effects and next steps. Transportation arrangements, staff said, would follow the same rules used for cyber charter and other nontraditional enrollments. District administration also noted academic and attendance eligibility must be met at the student’s school of record; the district’s eligibility standards would still apply when a private-school student participates for the public-school team.

Board members said the item will appear on an upcoming agenda. Arnn said the administration intends to recommend elimination of the cooperative agreements next week, either effective upon PIAA passage of the rule change or after the fall sports season, and that district staff would notify affected schools and principals, including Nick Wilson at BMS, to begin discussions.

The board did not record a final vote on the item in the public portion of the transcript; members described the recommendation and next steps but did not adopt a motion on the record during the published discussion.