Good Article Discussing Possible Enrollment Numbers

[Bobcatfan4life]

From The Abilene News:

Murky UIL waters to clear with realignment

By Brian Todd / Reporter-News Staff Writer

January 29, 2006

It all comes down to this: 1.302 schools, 2 trillion combinations and two years since the last time we've all been through this.

On Thursday, the University Interscholastic League, the governing body for public high school sports in Texas, will announce its biennial realignment and reclassification.

Charles Breithaupt, director of athletics and assistant UIL director, said the fans of UIL athletic and academic competition should be prepared for a few surprises when the 2006-07 realignment comes out. But despite the conspiracy theories to the contrary, there will be no cheating by the schools.

Breithaupt laughed at what he called the ''old joke'' that goes, What is the cutoff for Class 5A? Highland Park plus two.

''We verify those (enrollment numbers) through TEA and PEEMS,'' Breithaupt said, referring to the Texas Education Agency and the standardized accounting program Texas schools use to report everything from enrollments to budgets.

Breithaupt said once enrollment numbers are gathered, UIL assigns each figure to a code - so no one can watch any individual school's name as the list preparation begins - and the 1,302 schools' enrollment numbers are fed into a computer that generates the trillions of realignment possibilities.

''We started again in the spring of 2004,'' Breithaupt said. ''The real work began again in the fall 2005.''

That, Breithaupt said, is when the new enrollment numbers are verified and decisions are made by the UIL staff.

While UIL guards its realignment and reclassification information until Thursday, Breithaupt said there are certain things he can say:

Class 5A will remain the largest UIL classification. Breithaupt said that despite the growing size of some large schools, there will not be a Class 6A in Texas with the upcoming realignment.

Each classification - except for six-man - will be represented by 32 districts across four regions. Within each district, Breithaupt added, there should be at least six teams for football - although there may be some exceptions such as there was with District 4-3A in the last realignment.

''Six is our magic number,'' he said.

There will be 245 schools in Class 5A in the next realignment. The UIL charter calls for no more than 245 Class 5A schools, Breithaupt said, and UIL plans to put as many teams in 5A as possible.

''The more teams we put in 5A, the lower those cutoffs will be,'' he said.

After 5A, UIL will aim for approximately 200 schools in each classification. Helping to raise the bottom number in 5A is the fact that there are 20 new 5A schools that did not play football at the last realignment.

The dividing lines between classes will be set at approximately half of the next higher class. For example, if the cutoff between 5A and 4A was set at 1,950, then the cutoff between 4A and 3A would be somewhere near 975.

Again, schools below 99.9 enrollment can opt to play six-man football instead of 11-man in Class A.

When finalizing district alignments, geography - specifically the distance schools need to travel to games - is UIL's main concern. Not even on the list of concerns, Breithaupt said, is keeping traditional rivalries or districts intact. Breithaupt said that if it made sense to UIL, the organization would not hesitate to split apart District 3-5A.

''We have a very definite policy that says we are not allowed to perpetuate an old rivalry,'' Breithaupt said. ''We essentially start over every time. There is no preference for traditional rivalries or traditional districts.''

Breithaupt said that the area encompassed by Region I presents particular problems for UIL.

''As you look at the map, it is shocking,'' Breithaupt said. ''The diminishing student population in West Texas is alarming. Region I is two-thirds of the state geographically, but is just a small part of the student population.''

And that diminishing student population means there will be schools dropping down a class in West Texas and the Big Country.

''Those that have been on the bubble continue to be on the bubble,'' Breithaupt said. ''Cooper has been on the bubble. Merkel has been on the bubble.''

Contact sports editor Brian Todd at [email protected] or 676-6775.

[KFDM COOP]

I expect some surprises to. Thanks for posting! The biggest question is where will that 3A/4A cutoff number be??