The Georgia High School Association has tabled its proposed competitive-balance reclassification model.
The current model places private schools from Class A Division I to Class 3A into a separate playoff, which is set to continue until 2028, pending approval in the fall, according to the AJC’s Todd Holcomb.
According to Holcomb, the GHSA reclassification committee denied the new model of competitive balance, “a model that is proposed to move schools up and down in class based on their sports success instead of their enrollment numbers,” with a 13-5 vote during a meeting at the organization’s offices in Thomaston.
This past school year, public schools in Class A Division I, Class 2A, and Class 3A played against private schools during the regular season. However, public and private schools were separated in the playoffs.
The Class 3A-A private, Class A Division I, Class 2A, and Class 3A playoffs were based on rankings. The GHSA ranked teams from one to 32 based on power ratings for the postseason.
The idea was implemented to prevent private schools from winning a majority of the state titles in various sports.
Per Holcomb, with the current model in place in 2024-25, “the GHSA’s 44 private schools won 30 of the 183 team championships. Without a 3A-A private playoff division in 2023-24, private schools won 58 state titles.”
Holcomb stated that eight private schools are classified above Class 3A, with seven of them in Class 4A. Of the eight GHSA postseason brackets, six classifications do not have a private school.
In other news, the reclassification committee also voted to recommend using power ratings to seed the postseason in every classification. Four of the eight playoff classifications—Class 3A-A Private, Class A Division I, Class 2A, and Class 3A— followed this model in 2024-25, while Class 4A, Class 5A, and Class 6A did not.
During the previous school year, teams that ranked higher in the region standings or won a region title received a better seeding. That happened in the Class 3A-Private, Class 2A, and Class 3A state playoffs this year.
Holcomb said for the next cycle, the GHSA recommended that region champions receive a top-16 seed, but let the “power ratings determine the rest.” In the current cycle, region champions are assured a top-eight seed. The new proposed model wouldn’t ensure a postseason berth for a top-four placer in region play.
The next reclassification meeting will be held in August, with the changes implemented during the 2027-28 academic school year.