Apr 19, 2016 3 min read

The never-ending debate on high school student athletes intensified last month after Florida lawmakers passed a 160-pagee education reform bill that regulates charter schools, addresses state funding and how colleges receive month.

According to Adam Fisher of the Naples Daily News, the portion of the bill dealing with school choice has caused debate among coaches and atheltic directors in the Florida High School Athletic Association. Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill last week.

Starting with the 2016-17 school year, students will be able to attend any public school in the state that is not at capacity. The new law allwos students to go to a school outside the county in which they live if they provide their own transportation and the school has openings.

A transfer student would be immediately eligible to play sports, even if the season has started, as long as the athlete didn’t participate in that sport at another sport during the academic year.

The interesting part about the bill passing is that a student could transfer to another school for the winter and spring sports season.

Let’s give an example using using schools you’ve all heard of: if Pennsylvania were to pass a similar law, a student from Aliquippa could transfer to Central Catholic to participate in football. After the fall sports season ends, he can then go to another school, such as Lincoln Park, to compete in basketball, as long as the schools have an opening in their enrollment. When you read Fisher’s excellent piece, you’ll see that kids rarely have trouble finding a spot in a school.

This whole process will raise concerns about recruiting and how coaches will handle the free-for-all. You’d have talented players on bad programs possibly sitting out the first few weeks of preseason practices while he or she guages offers from other schools. I don’t anticipate this happening in Pennsylvania, but can you imagine how much trouble this would cause? You hear rumors of this already happening in Philadelphia, but the PIAA’s guidelines toward transferring are what you’d expect.

“If your transfer from one school to another is materially motivated in some way by an athletic purpose, you will lose your athletic elgibility in each sport in which you participate within a period of one year immediately following the date you transferred.”

With the debate surrounding private schools, you won’t see a window like this being openened. There has already been a public outcry about District 12’s transfer regluations, but what is the answer to solving this mess? Only time will tell if change comes to the PIAA.