A coalition of high school sports officials held a conference call Monday morning to denounce Republican-sponsored legislation that would make changes to the Florida High School Athletic Association, the state body that regulates public and private school sports in the state.
HB 1403, sponsored by GOP Representative Kelli Stargel from Lakeland, would require the FHSAA to establish guidelines for investigations and strengthen regulations over its investigators. It would also allow more children in private schools to play sports at public schools. State law limits that option to students who attend small private schools that do not have sports programs.
The Senate equivalent is sponsored by Jacksonville Republican Stephen Wise. In a Scripps Howard News Service report, he says this about the FHSAA: "It's like you're guilty until you're proven innocent. How do you prove the negative? … They ruin a coach’s reputation. It hurts the school, it hurts the kid and maybe you’re perfectly innocent on it.”
Roger Dearing, executive director of the Florida High School Athletics Association, said the bills would benefit "those who have a predisposition to cheat," and said many schools in Florida think the proposed changes will create "bedlam" in interscholastic sports.
This article appears in Feb 23-29, 2012.