GHSA Region Alignments to Remain the Same

The Georgia High School Association voted recently to keep its region alignments and classifications the same through the 2023-2024 school year.

However, the decision isn’t technically final yet. The move requires a change to the GHSA constitution and must be voted on by the GHSA’s executive committee twice to be finalized.

Typically, schools are reclassified every two years, moving up or down a classification based on full time equivalent enrollment or FTE. Class AAAAAAA schools typically are those with 2,000 students or more while Class A schools are usually 550 students or less.

Classifications in between them are divided, with roughly the same number of schools in each. Due to changes in school attendance due to COVID-19, GHSA officials believed it made more sense to maintain the current region alignments for two more school years.

“The rationale was that there is a drop in FTE (school enrollment) statewide, primarily at the high school level,’’ GHSA executive director Robin Hines said. “To remain in the same region and classification would make things more stable as we don’t know when or if the students will return.’’

The GHSA experimented with four-year reclassification cycles before from 2016-2017 through 2019-2020, but later voted to go back to the two-year reclassification cycle beginning last year.

‘‘It is not a permanent move to a four-year cycle,’’ Hines said, also indicating there would be an opportunity for schools to move up or down again if warranted as there was the last time the GHSA used a four-year reclassification cycle. ’’Everything may be appealed such as region assignment, classification, etc., just as always. It was discussed in the full committee to conduct an assessment like we did the mid-term adjustment when there was a four-year cycle.’’