By Shaun Chornobroff
SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA— Legislators’ latest effort to overhaul the South Carolina High School League will carry over into 2026, with the bill’s chief sponsor saying she’s cautiously optimistic a solution can be reached in the off-session.
Legislators insist they’re not going to let this push for change fizzle.
The House Education Committee decided last week to postpone debate on a bill that would eliminate the organization that governs student athletics and replace it with a board appointed by legislators.
The independent league, which creates its own rules for participating middle and high schools, has long rankled legislators, who often get calls from upset parents about decisions they have no authority over.
House Education Chairwoman Shannon Erickson said she filed the latest bill in March out of frustration; 28 legislators co-signed. It advanced last month from a subcommittee. But then, to her surprise, a member of the league’s executive committee contacted her.
So, rather than send the bill to the floor in the final days of this year’s session, her committee decided to try to collaborate with the league on a compromise that keeps the organization’s self-governance intact.
“I’m going out on a limb, and I’m not 100% sure it’s the right limb to go out on,” Erickson, R-Beaufort, told her committee Wednesday.
The decision to pause disbanding the league followed the committee’s grilling of Jerome Singleton, who’s led the dues-paying organization for two decades.
Legislators said they were tired of getting parents’ complaints about league decisions, including a transfer rule that has required students to sit out for a year before being allowed to play sports at their new school.
The league’s assembly of delegates voted in March to alter that rule, allowing one penalty-free transfer in high school sports starting in the coming school year. Erickson’s bill, filed ahead of that vote, proposed putting a one-transfer exemption into state law. The league’s change didn’t come up last week.
Rep. Stephen Frank, R-Greenville, even asked Singleton if he’d consider resigning his position.
“Maybe we don’t want the High School League to go away,” he said. “But the common denominator I’ve heard over and over is Jerome, Jerome, Jerome.”
Singleton said he would not leave his position.
Erickson stepped in minutes later and said issues with the league go beyond Singleton.
“It’s not just one person; it’s a problem with the way it’s organized,” she said.
The High School League has overseen sports in South Carolina’ middle and high schools since 1913. Its more than 400 members include traditional public schools, as well as charter schools and private schools.
Legislators have long threatened to eliminate the High School League.
But criticism intensified in recent years as the league grappled with the rise of sports-focused charter schools plucking students from around the state and the increasing regularity of athletes attempting to switch schools.
Erickson first proposed replacing the High School League in November 2023 after months of studying how to even out competition in high school sports.
That came in the aftermath of the league establishing a multiplier for determining which bracket schools would compete in. Traditionally, schools have been grouped according to the size of the student population.
Under the change, all students enrolled at a school from outside normal attendance zones, regardless of whether they played a sport, counted as three students.
That forced athletics-focused charter schools — the reason for the rule — to play bigger schools. But it also moved smaller private schools that are in the league into bigger brackets. Legislators said that perpetuated, rather than fixed, the unfairness.
“Come on guys: Do better. Do better at your jobs. Do better for the kids,” Rep. James Teeple told Singleton and other league representatives at Wednesday’s meeting.
The Johns Island Republican said the league reached out to Erickson out of desperation, not a true desire for change.
“This dumpster fire has been burning for a long time. It’s come to the point where those in leadership have noticed we’re committed to clipping their wings a little bit,” he said. “I question the real motives. I doubt it’s in good faith.”
But Erickson said she continues to hold out hope for collaboration. She said she’s already met with Adam Lanford, the vice president of the league’s executive committee.
“I hope that, No. 1, we can increase communication,” she said.
Rep. Terry Alexander, D-Florence, said no matter what conversations occur over the next seven months, change is necessary.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s going to be reorganized,” said the committee’s second vice-chairman and its longest-serving member. “We may kick the can down the road for a little bit. But there’s no doubt it will not be running like this in the next year or two.”
After the meeting, Singleton told the S.C. Daily Gazette he doesn’t know why Lanford, principal of Powdersville High School in Anderson County, contacted Erickson, but he’s happy to work with legislators on a solution. (Lanford did not respond to the Gazette’s messages for comment.)
“The ability to have a conversation and dialogue” is a great thing, Singleton said. “Both sides can see what’s there. And then, wherever concerns are, if there’s a medium to fix it, I think we take advantage of that.”
High School League optimism
Scott Earley, director of the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association, said he agrees work needs to be done but called efforts to banish the league “radical.”
Earley said his travels since becoming the association’s leader in December 2023 have given him insight into how other states govern high school athletics, and South Carolina’s system stands up well in comparison.
“I don’t think the problem is nearly as bad as it’s made out to be,” he told the Gazette.
The South Carolina Athletic Administrators Association issued a statement in support of maintaining the league, while pledging to work with lawmakers in addressing issues.
“The League has long been a trusted leader in advancing the high ideals of sportsmanship, integrity, physical welfare, and equitable opportunity for student-athletes across every region of our state,” read the statement from the association’s board.
“We need to remember, it is a member-driven body — shaped by the input, collaboration, and votes of schools statewide,” it continued. “We all need to work together in the face of challenges.”
Shaun Chronobroff covers the state legislature for the S.C. Daily Gazette, part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
