Transfer rules approved by PIAA
Athletes who transfer for their 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade years won’t be allowed to participate in the postseason during the year of their transfer unless they are granted a hardship waiver.
That was one of the tighter restrictions the PIAA board of directors approved at a meeting in State College Wednesday, bypassing bylaw proposals that require three votes and finalizing the new rules to take effect in time for the 2018-19 high school sports season.
The few exceptions that could grant a hardship waiver include:
- a change of residence necessitated by a change in employment
- a court-ordered transfer
- a change of schools caused by military reassignment of a parent
- a school-initiated administrative transfer within a district
- a change of schools caused by release from a juvenile facility
- a radical change in income or other financial resources that compels withdrawal from a private school
Each transfer is handled first by the respective district committee. The decision can then be appealed at the state level.
The board also approved a competitive-balance formula that will move successful teams, only in football and basketball, into a higher classification if that team receives a certain number of transfers.
The formula is broken into two parts: transfers and playoff success. Four points are awarded for reaching a state title, three for the state semifinals, two for the quarterfinals and one point for any team that qualifies for the PIAA playoffs.
The PIAA will move up in classification any team that accumulates six points over a two-year period and also meets the transfer threshold for the given sports: six players for football or three for basketball.
This furthers the two transfer rules that were approved in April, which also begin with the 2018-19 sports seasons. If a student-athlete who has participated in at least 50 percent of the maximum regular-season games at his or her school cannot play at their new school for the remainder of the season, and a 21-day ineligibility period for all in-season transfers if the student-athlete practiced or played with their former team.
The PIAA also approved two tweaks to the baseball pitch-count rule. The maximum pitch limit for a single game increased by five pitches, to 105, and 210 total pitches per week.
All playoff games will now require an official pitch counter, a decision coming on the heels of a Class 6A baseball play-in game between State College and McDowell. State College won the game 3-2 but according to the McDowell scorebook – the official book because the Trojans were the home team – the winning pitcher exceeded the limit by one pitch. The lone pitch eventually forced State College to forfeit the game and end its season.