CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice says the state legislature has to “clean up” the high school sports transfer rule.
The rule, that’s part of a new state law dealt with by lawmakers in the 2023 regular session, creates a more liberal transfer process.
Justice, who has spoken against the new rule previously, did so again in his most recent media briefing. He said he’s beginning to see the impact of the rule on school communities.
Justice, who coaches girls basketball at Greenbrier East High School, points to girls basketball in the Kanawha Valley.
“We’re very, very quickly having a situation where the parity is gone, kids aren’t coming out,” Justice said. “When kids see teams get beat 96-3 in football and stuff like that, to be perfectly honest, it takes a real commitment for kids to play sports and all of the sudden before you know it you spin around two or three times and kids aren’t coming out enough to field a team.”
Justice, who let the bill become law without his signature, said the South Charleston High School girls program doesn’t have a JV team and Capital High only has 7 players.
“We’ve got to clean this up because in a lot of ways our high school sports are really, really important,” he said.
Justice didn’t immediately offer any suggestions on what changes should made.
The law, which worked its way through the state legislature in March, allows student-athletes the opportunity to change schools one time during their high school career without having to change residency. Under the previous rules from the WVSSAC, a student would have to sit out a year of competition if they elected to transfer unless they received a waiver.
Justice said he couldn’t get anybody to listen to him before the bill became law.
“If we don’t watch out we’re going to have a situation in West Virginia where we’ve lost our sports and lost a lot of stuff that is so, so important to kids and their future in may ways,” Justice said.
Meanwhile, the governor said this week he didn’t yet have an opinion on a recent decision by the SSAC to make four classes in additional high school sports in West Virginia.
“I trust the SSAC that they got this figured out but at the same time I’m way more concerned about the fact that the Capital girls have 7 kids and South Charleston can’t field a JV team,” Justice said.
The 60-day regular legislative session begins Jan. 10.
“We cannot. We cannot destroy high school sports in West Virginia. We’ve got to fix this,” Justice said.