Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

Five years after a member-initiated petition forced the Competitive Equity and Public/Private debate to the forefront, another petition has been introduced by a group of member schools to try to do something four previous proposals have failed to do: find a solution to a complex, emotionally-charged issue with many different viewpoints and facets.

Signed by Luck District Administrator Cory Hinkel, Durand Superintendent Greg Doverspike, Royal Superintendent Mark Gruen, Wisconsin Dells Superintendent Terrance Slack, and Wisconsin Dells Athletic Director Aaron Mack, the petition outlines a plan that would use Free and Reduced Lunch numbers along with a Success Factor to create a Division Allocation Formula for placement in the WIAA postseason series for the sports of boys and girls basketball.

The group indicates a statistical analysis by an analytics company showed that the more affluent a school district is and the lower the free and reduced lunch rate is, the better chance for athletic success in regular season and postseason play.

Interestingly, both a Reducer and a Success Factor (for all sports) were voted down by member schools in the last few years. The Reducer was introduced as an amendment to the Multiplier at the 2015 WIAA Annual Meeting, and rejected by a 265-167 vote. The Success Factor was the closest vote of any Competitive Equity proposal, failing 221-198 at the 2016 WIAA Annual Meeting.

The WIAA released a statement to WisSports.net that read:

"We have received the petition identifying another consideration to address a perceived competitive imbalance by a segment of the membership. In recent years, the membership has reviewed and rejected all attempts to gerrymander access to the State Tournaments or handicap the outcomes. For clarity purposes, the information in the email with the petition misrepresents the results of a membership survey a few years ago. The survey did not reveal an overwhelming sentiment that there is a problem with competitive equity."

While not directly related to the issue of Competitive Equity, the petition would also introduce a six-team field for the Division 1 state tournament, with the top two seeds as voted by the participating coaches getting a bye in the quarterfinal round. The group's rationale lists a belief that such a move would "...spark even greater interest in the state tournament."

While the Division Allocation Formula would only be applied to boys and girls basketball currently, the group does state that the plan could be applied to other sports in the coming years.

Per WIAA rules, for the petition to be added as a voting item on the April 2020 WIAA Annual Meeting, it must be signed in writing by the district administrator or high school principal of at least 10% of member schools (currently 507 total schools). The deadline for the petition to be turned in to the WIAA is January 3rd.

For a round-up of articles and information related to the Multiplier, Reducer, Success Factor, and Rural/Urban Plans from the last few years related to Competitive Equity, please click here.

Below is the text of the information sent to all athletic directors earlier today as well as the petition and proposed amendments to the WIAA Constitution.

WIAA PETITION
FOR 2020 ANNUAL MEETING
To:  District Administrators, High School Principals & Athletic Directors

Fr:    Greg Doverspike , Mark Gruen, Cory Hinkel, Aaron Mack, Terry Slack    

RE:  WIAA Competitive Balance Amendment

For years the WIAA membership has struggled with how to best address competitive balance with many different options presented. The most recent was the rural/urban plan. The need to address this topic was furthered by the results of the WIAA Survey from a few years ago.

To address this issue, we have been working with an analytics company to determine if there is a statistical correlation between athletic success and income level. Specifically, with a ten-year study of boys’ basketball complete, it, overwhelmingly showed that the more affluent the community/district and the lower the free and reduced lunch rate, the better statistical chance of winning percentage for regular season play as well as success within the state tournament series.  

As a result, please see the corresponding proposed Amendment to the WIAA Constitution. This amendment has three primary elements to its basis. In general, it creates an enrollment formula with a reducing effect for schools who exceed the free & reduced state average. The measure also safe guards, for competitive balance purposes, schools cannot fall more than one division. The second aspect of the amendment is the use of a success factor formula, and it closely models the work of the ad hoc competitive equity committee in 2014. Lastly, this amendment would create a new six team division-1 state tournament format. The latter is believed to spark even greater interest in the state tournament.  

This amendment is being proposed to take effect for basketball in the 2020-21 season. With the success of the new amendment, this plan could be applied to other sports in the coming years, just as the seeding of state tournaments has evolved in recent years.

Your support of this amendment is greatly appreciated, and in order to get this on the annual meeting agenda in April of 2020 signatures are due back to the WIAA by January 3, 2020. In January 2020 more information will be released on this topic and go into greater detail than outlined in this introductory statement and attached amendment. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of us.

Respectfully submitted.

(Highlighted text would be new language from the petition)

We, the administrators and high school principals of WIAA member senior high schools, who have signed below, are seeking to amend the WIAA Constitution effective, as soon as possible, as follows to address the school classifications for purposes of Boys and Girls Basketball:

Article III-Membership

Section 3 – Classification

    A. Each senior high school shall be classified for purposes of membership, representation, and competition (including tournaments where necessary) on the basis of previous year’s enrollment on the third Friday in September. 

Beginning with the 2020-21 school year, the following competitive balance formula, which includes a success factor, shall be used for purposes of classifying senior high schools for purposes of membership, representation, and competition (including tournaments where necessary) as it relates to Boys and Girls Basketball:  

    1. Determine the school’s previous year’s third Friday enrollment.
    2. Identify the school’s free and reduced lunch rate.
    3. If the school’s free and reduced lunch rate exceeds the previous year’s state average for free and reduced lunch, the school’s enrollment shall be reduced by the percentage difference between the school’s free and reduced lunch rate and the state average.  If the school’s free and reduced lunch rate does not exceed the previous year’s state average for free and reduced lunch, the school’s enrollment shall not be modified.1
    4. Classify the schools based on the Division Allocation formula as described below.
    5. Calculate the school’s success factor points.
    6. Move the schools to different Divisions, as necessary, based on the success factor points.

NOTE: Examples: In 2018-19 the state average for free & reduced rate at the high school level was 35.1%   
    • Sample School A:  500 enrollment with a 15% free and reduced rate would retain their traditional enrollment of 500 for divisional placement purposes.  
    • Sample School B:  500 enrollment with a 50% free and reduced rate would see their competitive balanced enrollment set at 429.50.  No member school shall see its competitive balanced enrollment exceed the state average.  
Thus, in 2018-19 the maximum a member schools enrollment could have been reduced was by 35.1%. 

Division Allocation Formula

Schools will be assigned on a geographical basis in five divisions (1-2-3-4-5).

After determining the school’s enrollment, as modified by the free and reduced lunch rate, if applicable: 
        a. The largest 96 schools shall be assigned to Division 1 and would be distributed into six (6) sixteen (16) team sectional brackets. For the state tournament the coaches will seed the teams and the top two (2) seeds will receive a bye with the number three seed playing the number 6 seed and the four and five seeds playing in the quarter final.  The number one seed will then play the lowest seed remaining after the quarterfinal round.   
        b. The next 64 largest schools shall be assigned to Division 2.
        c. The smallest 128 schools shall be assigned to Division 5.
        d. With regard to the remaining schools, they will be split in half.  Within the remaining schools, the half with the schools with the largest enrollment shall be assigned to Division 3 and the schools with the smallest enrolment shall be assigned to Division 4.  If there is an odd number of schools, the additional school shall be assigned to Division 3. 

Success Factor Classification

Beginning with the 2019-20 school year, for competition (including tournaments where necessary), a success factor will be calculated to determine the final Division placements for schools.  

Schools will be evaluated by the success factor after each season:

    a. Calculating the success factor:  
        ◦ Points will be cumulative for a three (3) year period.  
        ◦ Points will be awarded based upon the finish of the team in the tournament series.  Points do not accumulate during the tournament series.
        ◦ 4 points for winning a state title.
        ◦ 3 points for advancing to the state championship game.
        ◦ 2 points for advancing to the state semifinal (final 4)
        ◦ 1 point for advancing to the sectional final (final 8)
    b. The success factor will be three (3) year cumulative total of no less than 6 points in all divisions of the previous three (3) years.
    c. Schools promoted using the success factor will be promoted to the next division from the previous year.  
    d. No school will be moved more than one (1) division per year.  
    e. After being promoted, points from a lower division will not be considered in the future promotion.  
    f. If success factor points over the previous three (3) years are less than 6 points in all divisions, promoted schools will leave the division.  

Cooperative Teams (Co-ops)
a. When a co-op forms, the co-op will be a point total equal with the combined total of both schools.
b. When a co-op dissolves, each school will retain the points of the co-op. 
c. Co-operative schools are placed into divisional competition on the basis of the combined enrollment of the schools involved.  

B. Schools with only Grades 10-12 students shall add, for purposes of classification and competition:

1. The total enrollment figure of the Grade 9 students, if there is only one school with Grades 10-12 students in the district.

2. One-third (1/3) of the enrollment of Grades 10-12, if there is more than one (1) school with Grades 10-12 students in the district.

C. The Board of Control shall have the authority to adjust enrollment figures in unusual situations (such as consolidation, formation of a new school, gain or loss of district, etc.), provided such information is made known before September 15 of each year.
D. The enrollment of schools consisting of students of only one (1) sex shall be doubled to determine its classification.
E. When two (2) or more school districts consolidate, the third Friday enrollment count of the previous year will be used for all WIAA tournaments.
F. In a multiple high school district, charter school enrollment will be identified by the district according to student residence.  The students will be assigned and counted by the school of residence for participation, enrollment and divisional classification.

Travis Wilson serves as the WisSports.net General Manager, Football Editor, and contributing writer for other parts of the site. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisWSN.