Bill introduced in State Legislature for cross-play between AHSAA and AISA schools
By TIM GAYLE
State Representative Troy Stubbs pre-filed a bill on Monday to allow cross-play competition between schools in the Alabama High School Athletic Association and non-AHSAA teams in Alabama, including the Alabama Independent School Association.
While the bill doesn’t mention either organization by name, the two largest organizations in the state have never permitted competition between the member schools, one of the only states in a large swath from Texas through the Deep South and including Mid-Atlantic states as far north as Pennsylvania that doesn’t allow cross play.
“No public K-12 school that benefits from state funding may be a member of an athletic association that prohibits … its member schools from competing or participating in a contest against or otherwise engaging in an athletic event with a non-member school,” reads a section of the proposed bill. The Alabama State Legislature is slated to convene on Tuesday.
Cross play would be permitted if the Alabama High School Athletic Association, a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), asked the national association to admit the Alabama Independent School Association as an affiliate member as other states throughout the country have routinely done.
AISA executive director Michael McLendon made a request in writing to AHSAA officials asking for consideration from the AHSAA Central Board at its January meeting and the request was never placed on the board’s agenda.
The proposed legislation would allow AHSAA-member schools to play teams that follow a specific set of standards that are in compliance with NFHS rules, age restrictions and requirements for game officials. House Bill 91 will broaden the number of teams AHSAA and AISA members can play, which means less travel for games and more time in the classroom for student-athletes.
“HB 91 simply gives AHSAA schools the option to play teams in the AISA,” McLendon said. “This allows coaches to build out schedules that minimize travel time for student-athletes and their parents.”
Research conducted for this legislation revealed that of the 19 states surveyed, only Louisiana and Alabama do not practice competitive choice among associations. Georgia, the most recent state to implement changes, began allowing cross play in its competitive practices through legislation passed in 2016, serving as the model for Alabama’s proposed bill.
“Currently, AHSAA teams can play private school and home school teams based in Mississippi, but they cannot play the AISA school right down the road,” McLendon said. “This makes no sense. When our schools compete, it’s not just the athletes who will come together, it’s the families, the alumni and the local businesses. It’s a celebration of community. Competitive choice would amplify this, creating new local traditions and strengthening existing ones.”
Stubbs, a Republican state representative from Wetumpka, has a long history of working with youth sports in his area and previously served as the chairman of the Elmore County Commission. Before that, he spent much of his youth participating in sports in various states as the son of collegiate assistant coach Charlie Stubbs, a co-offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama under Mike DuBose in 1998-2000.
“High school athletic competition has been unnecessarily stifled in our communities,” Stubbs said. “If a private school and public school in the same area want to play each other, we shouldn’t stand in their way. This bill creates robust and fair competition between public and private schools, while ensuring the safety of our student-athletes. It also will reduce travel time for games, which means more time in the classroom for our student-athletes.”