RALEIGH, N.C.— Athletic directors are voicing their concerns about a bill passed by the North Carolina General Assembly that would extremely limit the authority of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA).
Colin Fegeley, North Carolina Athletic Directors Association President, says he is worried about the future of high school sports.
“We’ve seen an unfortunate pattern unfold over the past couple of years with our state legislature— sort of a slow chipping away at the authority and the governance ability that North Carolina High School Athletic Association has.” said Fegeley.
Senate bill 452, which originally addressed insurance issues in the state, would take away much of the NCHSAA’s authority. Representative Destin Hall says the bill does not dissolve the current high school association, but allows the North Carolina Board of Education to keep it transparent.
“It’s gonna have some guardrails, it’s gonna have some accountability, so that we know where the children’s money will be going.” said Hall.
Fegeley says the NCHSAA has nothing to hide.
“What this bill does is take away things like their ability to give out grants and scholarships to our most deserving student athletes and we do believe that this is another step in the direction of taking over the North Carolina High School Athletic Association and it becoming an agency of the state.” said Fegeley.
Some of the new rules the new legislation require the NCHSAA to comply to are: enforce all rules adopted by the state board without changes, adopt an ethics policy that requires board members to avoid conflicts of interest, and enter into contracts with individual schools as to the monetary requirements for participation.
Click here to listen to Colin Fegeley’s full interview.