MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Despite being opposed by high school coaches and the high school athletics governing body, a bill that would grant student-athletes a one-time transfer without losing a year of athletic eligibly has been overwhelmingly approved by the state Senate.
According to supporters, the intent of SB 586 is to prevent students who transfer to schools outside of their residential area for academic reasons being forced to sit out a year of athletics.
“Even if that transfer is made for an academic reason, which by in large most transfers are for that reason, they still have to sit out. If a kid is trying to take advantage of a great math program at a school and happens to play a sport, he’s got to sit out for a full year,” said the bill’s lead sponsor Senator Ryan Weld, R-Brooke.
“I do personally believe that someone has the right to transfer and should be able to,” remarked Senator Bob Plymale, D-Wayne, Wednesday on the Senate floor.
However, the unintended consequences of the bill, if it were to become law, would be creating a high school version of the transfer portal.
“I think in the areas where there are a lot of schools, I think you’ll see a lot of hopping and there will be a lot of recruiting,” stated West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Executive Director Bernie Dolan on MetroNews affiliate WAJR.
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Coaches are also concerned about the Pandora’s box that the bill could create. On Thursday, the West Virginia Schools Athletic Coaches Association issued a letter to members of the House of Delegates expressing their opposition to the bill. The letter states that SB 586 allows “athletics to precede academics” and that it would “increase the likelihood of overzealous adults recruiting kids to play sports at a certain school.”
The WVSSAC’s residence-transfer rule, covers a variety of situations ad grants several instances in which a student may remain eligible not be forced to forfeit a year of sports. Additionally, like all of the WVSSAC’s rules, it can be appealed.
“From February of last year to February of this year, I think we had 115 appeals for the residence transfer rule and 70 of them were approved,” said Dolan.
With an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 high school student-athletes in the state, the transfer rules appear to only be affecting a very small percentage.
“We only had 115 appeals out of that many athletes. That doesn’t sound like we have a problem that needs to be fixed,” Dolan said.
SB 586 passed the Senate on Wednesday on a 31-3 vote and now goes to the House of Delegates for consideration.