Public vs. Private Football Debate: Write Your Local Congressperson

Tagged under: News

Matt Herring | October 4, 2024

Earlier this week the Pennsylvania House Commerce Committee voted 24-1 to separate playoffs and post-season championship play for public and private schools.  While many would assume this vote creates an immediate split between public and private schools in all interscholastic sports the road to the passing of an actionable law (which is required in the Commonwealth) will be long and frought with numerous obstacles to make it a reality.

What lies ahead are months of deliberations in the PA General Assembly and a possible vote on HR Bill 443 which aims to put into law the public/private split for post-season competition.  As recent as five years ago, state representative Scott Conklin (D-Centre County) brought forward legislation to attempt the same outcome and HR Bill 919 (2019) died before it ever hit the floor for a vote failing to garner bipartisan support.  Conklin is again the state representative bringing the current HR Bill 443 to the floor as he takes another crack at tackling the public/private post-season play split.

Since 2019, the landscape of the PA General Assembly has shifted greatly.  In 2019, Republicans held a 110-93 majority in the House.  Currently, Democrats control the House by a slim 102-101 margin.  Is this a factor in the possibility of a new House Bill being proposed by a Democratic member garnering the needed support to reach a vote and then passing?  Perhaps, as the last bill was brought to the floor by Democrat House member Conklin in a majority Republican House.  Whatever your politics, if you support a split of public and private for post-season play it shouldn’t matter which direction you lean…this should be a wholly bipartisan issue.

As it pertains to PA football and Commonwealth athletics in general, it may be time to make another attempt at separating private and public post-season competition.  If passed similar to the 2019 structure the PIAA would propose, ratify and administer the new format for post-season play.  It is certain, however, that any bill passed separating public and private schools in championship play could be met with numerous lawsuits which was likely the primary cause for the 2019 bill never making it to a vote.

If you are passionate to change the landscape of Pennsylvania High School athletics (football for the purpose of this article) you could look up the email address of your local congressperson and emplore them to amend the Public School Code of 1949 (hand-write a letter and lick a stamp if you’re old school…write it in cursive for extra points).

In your message, specifically, you could request your state representative supports HR Bill 443 that supercedes House Bill #2104 of 1972 which authorized “private schools to participate with public schools in post-season athletic events.”  For some context, House Bill #2104 of 1972 furthormore enacted, “private schools shall be permitted, if qualified, to participate in post-season athletic contests with public schools.”  (see below for an image of the actual bill).

Yes, PA high school football fans…it’s true!  The PIAA cannot wake up one day and simply decide that public schools and private schools should be separated for post-season championship contests.  While the recent 24-1 vote conducted by the PA House Commerce Committe urges the PIAA to take action on a public/private playoff split it will actually require a constitutional majority vote of the PA General Assembly to make that happen.  You’ll need 102 of Pennsylvania’s locally voted state reps to agree on the topic to make the change needed for an overhaul of the post-season structure.

While the PA Public School Code of 1949 established a standard for academics across the Commonwealth HB #2104 born 23 years later specifically addressed athletics as it pertains to public and private schools in post-season competition.  And now, 52 years later, many are clammering for a revisit of the statute governing athletics in PA.  Whatever side of the debate you support your voice is only heard by solicting your locally voted representatives.

For a list of PA State Representatives to voice your opinion click the link below…

https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews