Reclassification and Realignment Snapshot Date Oct. 15
By Cliff Odenwald | Thursday, October 08, 2009 10:48 AM
Every two years the reclassification and realignment of all UIL member schools occurs. This process impacts every school in the state that participates in UIL activities. All across Texas, patrons will be anxiously waiting to see the new reclassification and realignment that will be released Feb. 1, 2010.
Schools were mailed a reclassification and realignment form in September. All schools are required to submit enrollment figures for Oct. 15 on the R&R form. This form must be faxed to the UIL office no later than Oct. 20.
It is extremely important for all schools to take their enrollment on the same snapshot date of Oct. 15 and not prior to this date. Believe it or not, the staff has already contacted several schools that faxed the R&R form to the UIL before the snapshot date. To ensure that there is equity for all schools in the R&R process, it is crucial that enrollments are collected on the same date.
The UIL staff will carefully review every form submitted. These forms will be proofed and verified for accuracy. The enrollment figures for all schools choosing to participate in football and basketball for the 2010-11 school year will be processed.
Schools will submit a participation form in January indicating other activities in which they wish to participate. The alignments for all activities other than football and basketball will not be released until after the completion of appeals of the Feb. 1 release.
Following the collection of and proofing of the R&R forms, the determination of conference lines will be drawn. In football there will be six conferences, including six-man. In basketball there will also be six conferences, with Conference 1A divided into two divisions.
Following the procedure, schools will be grouped into 32 districts in each of the conferences.
This critical stage is done according to the policies previously determined by the Legislative Council.
Beginning with Conference 5A, procedures allow staff to take no more than 245 schools into 5A.
Once this line is determined between 5A and 4A, the lines for all other conferences are determined using a 2.0 disparity ratio.
Conferences in 2A-4A shall consist of approximately 200 schools. The conference line will be determined using a 2.0 disparity ratio.
Schools in each of these conferences should have an enrollment ratio between the largest and smallest school of approximately 2.0. In theory, this means that the largest school in a conference should generally be no more than twice the size of the smallest school in the conference.
After completing the 2A-5A conferences, the remaining schools will be placed into Conference 1A. Schools with an enrollment of 99.9 or lower may choose to participate in six-man football or may opt to play 11-man football. In Conference 1A basketball, the larger schools will be placed into Division I while the smaller schools will be placed into Division II.
For the 2010-11 realignment the Conference 1A superintendents who participate in 11-man football voted by referendum ballot to adopt the same Division I and Division II alignment that is currently being used in Conference 1A six-man football.
Schools may request to be elevated to a larger conference in cases of extreme travel or in multiple-high-school districts of eight or more schools. This option, once selected, may not be changed after submission. The option is not available after the Oct. 15 deadline.
Following the determination of conference lines, the staff begins placing schools into districts; keeping in mind those schools must be placed within 32 districts in each conference with eight of those districts in each of four regions.
The staff begins placing pushpins into maps depicting the location of each school within a conference. Following this action, schools are grouped into districts of six to eight schools.
Concerns are always expressed regarding district assignments. Placing more than 1300 schools into districts will create controversy. The placement of schools in districts does not allow for perpetuation of rivalries or strength of particular teams.
It would be impossible for any group to compose district assignments based on equitable competition and the relative strength of teams. To do so would be subjective and unfair. The current system of grouping schools based on geography has been the fairest system for all schools involved.
Please remember that only the football and basketball alignments will be released on Monday, Feb. 1.
All other alignments will be released later in the spring. Football is released at this early date because it is a fall sport, and it is the only sport that schedules with contracts on a two-year basis.
Basketball is released early because it is the activity in which the most schools participate.
With this information, appeals can be heard with a rational basis of knowledge, as it would apply to all other alignments. Fall sports such as volleyball, cross country and team tennis will be released as soon as possible following the final hearings of the District Assignment Appeals Committee. All other activities will be assigned prior to the end of the school year.