'Grossly misguided': NCHSAA commissioner blasts Senate Bill as taking voice from NC schools
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association is vehemently pushing back against a new Senate bill passed Friday that it says would strip the state's governing body of high school athletics of much of its current authority.
On Friday, the state senate passed Senate Bill 425, which will transfer the majority of the NCHSAA’s power to the superintendent of public instruction and members of the North Carolina Board of Education and away from the association's member schools. NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said the bill doesn't have the best interest of athletes in mind.
Tucker said she believes Senate Bill 452 takes away the voice of North Carolina schools and strips their ability to govern themselves in high school athletics.
"To me, the inability now of the membership, made up of 436 schools, to be able to dictate how they want to be governed by an organization ... (that has) always taken our marching orders from the membership," Tucker said in a phone interview with the Citizen Times on Friday. "Anybody who thinks we do not do that is grossly misguided and misinformed."
Senate Bill 452 will head to the governor’s desk after passing along party lines 67-43 in the House of Representatives, with two additional Democrat votes, and passing 43-0 in the Senate. If passed, the bill would go into effect for the 2024-25 school year.
How would Senate Bill 452 change NCHSAA's ability to regulate?
Among the powers that would be delegated to the Board of Education would be the creation of rules around athlete safety, determining fees for school participation and setting student participation rules, including academic standards, transfer requirements and medical eligibility requirements.
Tucker believes the state has a misguided view of how rules established by NCHSAA members. Currently, member schools suggest rules or regulations, not the NCHSAA staff. Now, Tucker said one person — the superintendent of public instruction — has the power to decide whether something should pass.
The North Carolina Association of Athletic Directors expressed its own concerns with the bill on social media.
"This legislation is specifically designed to remove the most qualified individuals from the process that determines who represents them in matters related to high school athletics," the association posted on social media.
Why do lawmakers want to limit NCHSAA's oversight in high school athletics?
The current process stems back to 2021. House Bill 91 proposed an overhaul of athletic oversight, replacing the NCHSAA with a new organization led by a 17-person committee appointed by state legislators.
The attention came from a state investigation that revealed the NCHSAA had a $40 million endowment. This new bill would prohibit the NCHSAA from collecting any portion of money from ticket or merchandise sales and from providing grants or scholarships to players and schools.
House Bill 91 required the NCHSAA to enter a memorandum of agreement with the state Board of Education, an agreement that just completed its first year of a four-year plan. Senate Bill 452, however, would change that, requiring the NCHSAA to enter a memorandum of agreement with the superintendent.
"We have worked hand-in-glove with the state Board of Education over the last year to be in what we thought was a good place," Tucker said. "We had been working together in the last two weeks to look at revisions to some regulations relative to eligibility."
Tucker said the NCHSAA had just returned from a trip to Western North Carolina to discuss those potential new changes. She said they are headed east this week, but she isn't sure what she'll tell those schools after the bill passed.
Why NCHSAA believes North Carolina lawmakers acted with Senate bill
Tucker believes the state did not get what it wanted with House Bill 91, so lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 636 in the spring session. Senate Bill 636 blocked the NCHSAA's vote allowing athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness in North Carolina high school sports. Much of the language that debilitated the NCHSAA's power in Senate Bill 636 was rolled into Senate Bill 452, which was originally a bill related to insurance.
Senate Bill 452 would also require the NCHSAA to act as a public governing body, which would require meetings to follow open door laws, similar to how the TSSAA operates in Tennessee.
IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY: How Hayesville football's father-son duo has built up their relationship on and off the field
Tucker said the bill includes many things the NCHSAA already does, such as plans for concussions and emergency action plans. The bill, she said, makes it sound like the NCHSAA has not been following those laws.
"I am frustrated, disappointed, and yes, upset that we have people who believe that we do not have the best interest of the student-athletes in mind," Tucker said. "It's a sad day in North Carolina that we have people who would put this language in an insurance bill."
This story will be updated.
Evan Gerike is the high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanGerike. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: NCHSAA commissioner blasts Senate Bill as taking voice from NC schools
