The radical idea: change how classes are determined

It wasn't perhaps the worst idea out there when Class 4A decided by vote two weeks ago to split into two divisions in some sports -- football, volleyball, boys' and girls' basketball, baseball and softball -- effective this coming school year (2014 for football). But to some, it was akin to a criminal act.

"Too many classes!" many cried as now Kansas will award as many as eight State titles in those sports even though Kansas State High School Activities Association membership (roughly 360 schools) dwarfs that of many states which have fewer classes.

But the disparity between the largest and smallest schools in Class 4A couldn't be addressed any other way, proponents claimed. One plan which would have only affected football was voted down though it passed among Class 4A schools because Classes 3A and 2A didn't like how it would have affected them.

So this vote -- 42 schools were counted in favor -- was the next-best plan. It allowed proponents to propose a solution without relying on other classes to cooperate.

Fort Scott High School's official position was neutral. It, along with six of the seven current members of the Southeast Kansas League, will be in the upper division (Division I) of the restructured Class 4A. It didn't make a difference to those schools whether Class 4A split or stayed as it was.

But when Topeka-Highland Park, an urban school with 729 students, is in the same class as St. George-Rock Creek, a rural school with 258 students, there's clearly a problem.

The current six-class system was created in 1978. And it has always worked like this:

* -- The 32 largest schools by student population are assigned to Class 6A.

* -- The next 32 are assigned to Class 5A.

* -- Class 4A has the next 64 in line.

* -- Class 3A has the next 64.

* -- Class 2A has the next 64 after that.

* -- Class 1A has all the remaining schools. This year, there were 98 schools in the class, which has been split into two divisions in volleyball, boys' and girls' basketball for the past two school years.

The disparity of schools in Class 4A has been created by two problems with the current system.

The number of schools in each class, except 1A, is firm. The only adjustments are made under two circumstances:

* -- If there aren't enough schools in a class for it to have its own State tournament under current KSHSAA rules, it's combined with the class above it. This is why Classes 2A and 1A are combined in baseball and softball and why there's a 3-2-1A State Wrestling Tournament instead of one for each of those classes.

* -- The other is when two schools field a co-op team, the populations of the two are added together. If that number is big enough that it would be in a higher class if it were a single school, the co-op program moves up but no schools are moved down. This year, due to co-ops, there were more than 64 schools in Class 4A baseball and softball.

So if the perceived problem of a class having schools that are too far apart in population is to be addressed, the only real solution is to change how the classes are determined.

One way would be to change the number of schools in one or more of the classes. The original football plan tried this method. The plan was to move 16 schools down to Class 3A, then the bottom 16 in Class 3A down to 2-1A. This would have put Class 4A at 48 schools, left 3A at 64 and boosted the number in 2-1A from 41 to 57.

Another way is to get away from classes based on numbers of schools and go to a method that determines classes based on minimum and maximum numbers of students. Up until sometime around 1960, this was how classes were determined in Kansas.

It might be time to go back to that type of system. The problem with that, however, is the question of what ranges would be considered fair. Perhaps it would be OK to group all schools over 1,000 students in Class 6A -- there have been many seasons when Class 5A has been considered better than 6A. And assigning all schools with fewer than 100 students to Class 1A is pretty much what happens now.

Someone more clever than I would have to figure out what's fair for the schools between 100 and 1,000. That's been the real debate all along. Class 4A has just been the focal point.