“[W]rong must not win by technicalities.”
—Aeschylus
The sore losers in traditional public education who continue to resist school choice are just plain wrong.
Yet, being wrong and sore losers, these recalcitrants continue to try to win by technicalities – twisting the spirit of their own internal rules and regulations to undermine the letter of state law while discouraging parents from making a better choice for their kids’ education.
The latest in this vein is the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s (AHSAA) recent rules interpretation that students who transferred schools using the financial support offered by the state’s school choice program (the CHOOSE Act) are ineligible to play in Alabama high school athletics for a year.
As reported by the Trussville Tribune:
The decision, outlined in a memo sent this week by AHSAA Executive Director Heath M. Harmon, applies under Rule VI, Section 7 of the 2025-2026 AHSAA Handbook, which states that students who transfer and receive ‘financial aid or financial assistance’ are ineligible for one year. The rule also specifies that aid includes Alabama Scholarship funds, tuition remission, school choice program funds, and other assistance.
That’s right, parents who used the state of Alabama’s new school choice program to transfer their child for a better education are now seeing their children sidelined by AHSAA under the guise of violating the association’s anti-recruitment bylaws.
Rule VI, Section 7 of the AHSAA Handbook is ostensibly designed to prevent unfair recruitment practices by prohibiting schools from offering or providing financial benefits as incentives to attend for athletic purposes. The intent of the bylaw seems to be to maintain competitive balance and ensure that athletics doesn’t overshadow educational priorities because of financial enticements.
Fair enough.
However, according to the association’s latest interpretation of this rule, if a parent chooses to accept state funding from Alabama to transfer their child to a better academic setting, then AHSAA essentially suspects that parent of prioritizing athletics over academics.
Yet, is not the AHSAA placing athletics over academics by such a tortured application of its bylaws? Is not the AHSAA abusing its power to regulate athletic concerns in Alabama schools to disincentivize parents from using the CHOOSE Act? Isn’t this a violation of state law?
"At your request, I have reviewed Rule VI, Section 7 of the Alabama High School Athletic Association for the 2025-2026 school year, which disqualifies for one year a student who transfers to a member school and receives financial aid or financial assistance,” writes Othni Lathram, Legislative Services Agency director, in a memo requested by State Senator Chris Elliott. “The Legislative intent that the availability of these educational options not be foreclosed based on athletic considerations could not have been more clear.”
Lathram continues:
This law explicitly stated that ‘Nothing in [the CHOOSE Act] shall affect or change the athletic eligibility of student athletes governed by the Alabama High School Athletic Association.’ In other words, a student's eligibility to participate in school sports, as governed by the ASHAA, shall not be affected or changed for a student who transfers schools in accordance with the provisions of the CHOOSE Act. The intent is clear: a student's eligibility to participate in school sports shall not be impacted by a transfer via the CHOOSE Act.
Yet, despite the letter and intent of state law, the AHSAA has chosen to effectively brand any transfer under the CHOOSE Act, on its face, as potentially sullying amateur high school athletics by running afoul of anti-recruitment rules.
Somehow, “financial-aid” plus “transfer” always means a transfer is suspect and non-bona fide to the AHSAA – even if the aid in question comes directly from the state by law for explicitly academic reasons.
Under AHSAA’s interpretation of their bylaws, parents of talented student athletes must now take into consideration the rule about athletic eligibility before making a decision about their child’s academic future. Parents shouldn’t be forced to take the self-licking interpretations of an unelected, private agency’s bylaws into consideration when it comes to their children’s education – especially when the self-licking seems so contrary to the prerogatives of Alabama’s elected government as well as the original intent of the AHSAA’s own rules against recruitment.
Athletic eligibility shouldn’t be abused to discourage parents from taking advantage of school choice on behalf of their children’s academic future. The sore losers in traditional public education, who have long been wrong, must not win by technicalities.
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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