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MIDVALE — Student athletes who want to change high schools next year will lose a year of athletic eligibility except in very rare circumstances.
That's because after nearly a decade of increasingly controversial moves by high-profile student athletes, the Utah High School Activities Association is changing the transfer rule.
The new transfer rule is meant to be clearer about the state's rules regarding transferring from one high school to another for athletic reasons. While state law allows students to choose any high school that has room for them (open enrollment), students are not allowed to change schools for athletic reasons.
The old rule has been in place about 15 years and was meant to allow transfers liberally.
"Our membership (the schools) made it clear they wanted the least restrictive rule we could come up with," said UHSAA attorney Mark Van Wagoner. "We'd only try to preclude movement in those cases for which we had enough evidence to fairly conclude that they (student athletes) were going for sports."
The idea of the rule fit nicely with the state Legislature's desire that parents should be able to shop around for the best educational opportunities for their children.
Unfortunately, over time, as high school and club sports developed into big business, the number of transfers skyrocketed and the controversy swirled.
"Over a long period of time people learned how to play with the system in the same way that say, perhaps, an off-shore hedge-fund manager learned to beat the IRS," said Van Wagoner, who will help the UHSAA explain the new rule at a legislative interim committee meeting Wednesday afternoon. "They learned that if they say certain things, they're likely to be able to transfer."
Everything from phony divorces, transfer of custody, the need to take classes that aren't offered at a local school or emotional issues caused by bullying, bad coaches or gangs were almost surefire ways to get a green light from a hearing panel that had no way of researching or verifying any claims.
"We have no ability to put people under oath, or get information by subpoena," said Van Wagoner. "We had to rely on the veracity of those in the hearing, and sometimes, frankly, people didn't tell us the truth."
So the new rule will put the burden of proof on the families of teens hoping to transfer.
The rule still allows students to go to any high school that will accept them on first entry without losing any eligibility. But after they try out — even if they don't make it, and if the student is just a ninth grader — the students have established eligibility and the decision to transfer school will result in the loss of one year of eligibility at any level (varsity, junior varsity, sophomore and freshman) from the date of transfer.
Students can request a waiver, but they must prove the move is a hardship case. Example of hardships are: death in the family requiring relocation; divorce which results in relocation; or a bona fide change in residence (as a family).
The association members (all member high schools) were supposed to vote on the measure by April 30. The support for the change was overwhelming, with 114 schools in favor of the new rule and just 14 opposed.
Van Wagoner said they've also worked with the State Office of Education, as directed by law, and they were supportive of the effort.
e-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com
