OSSAA proposal: excellent idea

The proposed change to Oklahoma high school classifications is excellent. Sounds like we’ve got some Solomons on the committee formed to adress inequities among schools in the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.

Our man Ryan Aber wrote about the proposals in today’s Oklahoman, and the idea is this: use a multiplier for schools that control their enrollment. A .15 multiplier — thus a school of 100 students would be grouped as if it had 115 — for school that control their enrollment. That includes private schools, magnet schools, charter schools, boarding schools, etc. Also, an additional .15 multiplier for schools that charge tuition or offer financial aid (basically, private schools).

In essence, private schools would be given a 0.3 multiplier, so that a school of 100 would be grouped as if it had 130 students. All other schools that control their enrollment would be given a .15 multiplier.

This to me is a superb compromise. It does not automatically bump up schools that have an enrollment advantage, but it bumps up some. The earlier suggestions, mostly by Class 3A or close public schools, that schools be bumped up two classes was ridiculously punitive.

The controlled-enrollment schools do not have that much of an advantange. But they do have an advantage.

Controlled-enrollment means two things. Control the number. Control the individual students. Private schools, magnet schools and charter schools can set their limit of students: 300, 500, 800. Doesn’t matter. They basically can determine in which class they’ll be placed.

Public schools cannot. If 1,492 students show up to enroll at U.S. Grant, 1,492 is what Grant must take. That is not the case with the controlled-enrollment schools.

The other element of controlled-enrollment is individual control. If Bobby Delinquent shows up at Noble High School, Noble has to take him, no matter what kind of knucklehead he is. If Bobby Delinquent shows up at Mount St. Mary, the Mount can say, no thanks. Special education is part of this debate, too.