Lake Placid and Avon Park high schools asked the Highlands County School Board on Thursday to put a membership item on the next agenda to join the Sunshine State Athletic Association (SSAA) for football, arguing the association would reduce travel and create more balanced matchups for small programs.

Kevin Tuning, principal of Lake Placid High School, told the board the SSAA is a football-only association with public and private divisions that requires member schools to play a minimum of three SSAA opponents; annual dues are $500 per school, and playoff gate receipts are split between the two teams rather than retained by the association. “It focuses on promoting good sportsmanship and fair play for participants while maintaining a level playing field,” Tuning said.

Supporters said the SSAA’s admissions process — which considers school enrollment, roster sizes and four- to five-year roster trends and includes roster verification through a Bound/home-campus-like system — is intended to limit recruiting and protect competitive balance. Coach Jay Del Castillo said the SSAA began its football division in about 2008 to give smaller schools a place to compete without repeated blowout losses and long, costly road trips.

Sebring coaches and community leaders urged the district to proceed carefully. Coach Scott of Sebring High School cautioned that if several Highlands County schools move into the SSAA, the county’s traditional scheduling could be disrupted and some student-athletes might seek transfers to schools with perceived easier paths. “If they see these schools are going into an easier division, what happens to the students that are in Sebring that know they have to grind and work to play when they can say, ‘hey, I can go over here and it's not as hard,’?” Scott said.

Assistant head coach Mike Avery said Sebring is “a victim of our own success,” describing rising travel and charter-bus costs when nearby opponents are scarce and warning that shifting schedules may further complicate budgeting and logistics for large programs. Coaches and speakers referenced multi-thousand-dollar trips and described charter-bus requirements for large rosters; one coach estimated the district spent about $28,000 on travel the last two years for his program.

Board members asked logistical questions about referees and whether membership would change existing obligations. Tuning said local referee associations would continue to supply officials and that schools would remain responsible for referee payments for regular-season games. He also said the SSAA uses criteria such as roster turnover and competitive record when placing schools and that the association has previously removed schools for improper recruiting.

On process, Tuning said SSAA leadership encouraged applications and had pushed a January 15 timeline to help finalize membership and bracket assignments; he said acceptance requires a majority vote from SSAA member teams after initial vetting by SSAA staff. Board members noted that the district’s athletics policy currently names the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) as the membership body for Highlands County schools, but district athletic director Tim Leesburg said the change under discussion affects only one sport and would not, by itself, remove schools from the FHSAA for other sports.

The board agreed to place a broadly worded item on the next regular meeting agenda that could be amended to allow any Highlands County high school interested in SSAA football membership to apply. Board members asked the attorney to draft amended language to preserve the option for schools to remain with FHSAA for other sports and to make clear that SSAA membership would be sport-specific. The item will return to the board for formal action at a future meeting.

District leaders said they will provide additional information about financial impacts, transportation logistics and the SSAA admission process before any final decision.