Senators put the governing body for high school athletics in West Virginia under scrutiny and will continue to do so.
Their focal point has been Senate Bill 804 , which would restructure the Secondary Schools Activities Commission as a state agency, clarify that its funds are public and mandate the governor to appoint its executive director.
The Senate Education Committee examined the bill, called the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission Reform Act, for about an hour on Friday afternoon. At the end, Chairwoman Amy Nichole Grady said there would be a vote on a study resolution on Monday.
The study resolution move means the bill is not on track to become law, although debate over how the SSAC operates will continue.
The bill has been a big topic of discussion in West Virginia athletics circles — in part because so many senators put their names on it.
The main sponsor is Senator Jay Taylor of Taylor County. Additional sponsors include Senate President Randy Smith and senators Mike Azinger of Wood County, Kevan Bartlett of Kanawha County, Laura Wakim Chapman of Ohio County, Anne Charnock of Kanawha County, Vince Deeds of Greenbrier County, Scott Fuller of Wayne County, Brian Helton of Fayette County, Glenn Jeffries of Putnam County, Patrick Martin of Lewis County, Mark Maynard of Wayne County, Robbie Morris of Randolph County, Rollan Roberts of Raleigh County, Chris Rose of Monongalia County, Patricia Rucker of Jefferson County, Mike Stuart of Kanawha County, Darren Thorne of Hampshire County, Ryan Weld of Brooke County and Tom Willis of Berkeley County.
That’s 20 of the Senate’s 34 members.
Senator Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said in the committee meeting that the SSAC is long overdue for scrutiny. He responded to comments that the bill would overly politicize the organization by saying its actions already lead to policymakers.
“I believe that it’s very political because it’s very personal to every family in West Virginia that has a student athlete. And so when their community is adversely affected they reach out to the people that represent them,” Tarr said.
“So it’s already political, and the fact there’s 20 sponsors on this bill says that there’s enough people reaching out to the legislative body to say ‘we’re not happy with this.'”
One of those citizens, Brooks McCumbee, spoke before the committee and described himself as a retired football, basketball and softball official. He said he agreed with Tarr.
“The SSAC lacks transparency and accountability, and over the last 20 years or so, it’s really gone downhill,” McCumbee said.
Right now, the SSAC is a private, non-profit organization for activities like athletics and band for public and private secondary schools in West Virginia, with oversight delegated by principals or their designees.
Under what could be the new structure, the executive director appointed by the governor and approved by state senators would “investigate and make decisions on all violations of rules and questions of dispute regarding any sports activities governed by the commission and include provisions ensuring adequate due process.”
Any disagreement with the executive director’s decision may only be brought before the Intermediate Court of Appeals.
The legislation also requires a competitive balance formula for school classifications including transfer numbers.
SSAC Director David Price also addressed the committee. Price was reserved in his responses about what the legislation might do.
“But at the same time, there are some concerns with this,” Price said, citing specifics about academic eligibility. “I think in this bill, it eliminates the academic eligibility piece of it for students not enrolled in public and private schools.”
A couple of athletic directors also asked senators to be cautious.
Tim George, athletic director at Spring Valley High School in Wayne County, represented the West Virginia Athletic Directors Association.
“The WVSSAC ensures that our sports are played with integrity and fairness and that are focused on positive outcomes on the field, whether we win or we lose,” George said.
“We need a strong governing body that has the ability to provide leadership for high school athletics in our state. The WVSSAC should always remain politically neutral. Politics have no place in high school sports.”
Jamie Tallman, a teacher, coach and athletic director from Grant County, also spoke and said the activities commission is actually made up of a broad swath of participants.
“I just want to say that we are the SSAC,” he said. “I mean, it’s our students, it’s our parents, it’s the coaches, it’s the athletic directors, and it’s our principals.”