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Legislature to decide fate of private school multipliers

By Staff | Sep 21, 2022

The Kansas Statehouse in Topeka.

A new way to determine how private schools are classified among Kansas high schools now will go to the Kansas Legislature.

The Kansas State Board of Education voted, 6-4, Wednesday, Sept. 14, in favor of a multiplier proposal that previously had been passed by the Kansas State High School Activities Association’s Board of Directors, and before that, member schools.

The proposal would allow KSHSAA to base classifications on more than just school enrollment, as classifications currently are done.

The Frontier League, the conference made up mostly of Class 4A schools in which Tonganoxie is a member, has been leading the charge for the change. The push comes as private schools have dominated the landscape, especially at the 4A level in recent years with Bishop Miege collecting consecutive state titles in multiple sports.

Here’s the list of multipliers that legislators will look at as they vote at a future date:

Rule 5, Classification of Senior High Schools

Section 2: Senior High Regulations

Art. 5:Private schools will be subject to an enrollment multiplier factor when determining classification numbers. Factors for determining the multiplier include school location, socio-economic status, and championship factor. To calculate the multiplier number, the following criteria will be applied:

Any private school that has won five or more state team championships in the most recent five school years will have a multiplier applied to their classification enrollment count. These select private schools will begin with a 1.0 multiplier. The following factors will be added to the multiplier for each select private school.

Championship Factor – cumulative state championships over the previous 5-year period (not activity specific, team activities only).

10+ championships: + 0.30

5-9 championships: + 0.15

NOTE: If a private school has won less than 5 championships in the previous five-year period, the multiplier remains 1.0.

Geographic Population Factor – public school attendance area in which the private school is located.

Within a 5A/6A community: + 0.30

Within a 3A/4A community: + 0.15

Within a 1A/2A community: + 0

NOTE: If a private school does not meet the Championship Factor, the Geographic Population Factor would not take effect.

Socio-Economic Population Factor

0-20% Free/Reduced students reported: + 0.15

20% Free/Reduced students reported: + 0

NOTE: If a private school does not meet the Championship Factor, the Socio-Economic Population Factor would not take effect.