Conklin

The Pennsylvania House passed a bill Wednesday that if approved by the Senate and signed into law by Gov. Josh Shapiro would allow the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association to create separate playoffs and championships for public and private schools.

House Bill 41, introduced by state Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Centre, passed by a strong bipartisan majority with 178 “yes” votes to 23 “no” votes. All area representatives voted “yes” to the measure that would amend the act of March 10, 1949, known as the Public School Code of 1949, in interscholastic athletics accountability, providing for playoffs of championships.

Conklin said he introduced HB41 because the existing competition structure administered by the PIAA is unfair and jeopardizes athletes’ health and safety.

“Student athletes and their parents recognize that contact sports pose certain physical risks, which schools try to minimize through protective equipment, training and policies like concussion protocols,” Conklin said in a press release. “Unfortunately, our schools can’t protect against a playoff system that needlessly escalates those risks through unfair competitions.”

Currently, the PIAA playoff system forces athletes from public schools to compete against athletes from private schools, Conklin said.

This is unfair, he said, since public schools are limited to recruiting from within the school district boundaries, while private schools can recruit from anywhere and create larger, stronger teams.

“The result is unfair, lopsided competitions that leave public school students on a dangerously unlevel playing field, subjecting them to added physical risks and even depriving them of scholarship and recruitment opportunities,” Conklin said in a statement. “School sports are supposed to be about building confidence and teaching kids lessons in fair play, but the current system is teaching all the wrong lessons.”

Conklin said HB41 would allow — though not mandate — the PIAA to make the change by removing a decades-old requirement that has prohibited officials from updating the playoff system.

“My bill would provide a way to end these increasingly dangerous competitions by allowing the PIAA to establish separate playoffs and championships for boundary and non-boundary schools,” Conklin said.

While the bill will allow the PIAA to create separate playoffs and championships between public and private schools, public meetings would be required and discussions would include fiscal impact as well as testimony and public comment, according to the bill.

For the purposes of the bill, a boundary school refers to public schools. Non-boundary schools refer to charter schools as well as parochial and private schools.

The bill now heads to the state Senate for consideration.