CCS alarmed by proposed legislation that would enable athletes
to transfer schools without restriction
By Glenn Cravens
The Salinas Californian
Salinas – The Central Coast Section is asking high school sports followers to contact their local senators in hopes of stopping two proposed state bills.
Those proposed laws – Senate bill 1411 and Assembly bill 2312 – would allow students to transfer to any school with no restrictions. A hearing on both bills is scheduled for April 5 at the state capitol.
“There’s a real concern it will pass, and that’s why we’re concerned,” CCS Commissioner Nancy Lazenby-Blaser said. “There’s some push behind them.”
Because there would be no restrictions, a student-athlete could transfer whenever he or she felt like it. Under the proposed bills, a student-athlete could transfer to a playoff contender at any time, such as the day before a postseason tournament.
The transfer rule would affect the entire state. More than 700 transfer requests are processed each year in the CCS, whose jurisdiction spans about 150 schools from south San Francisco to King City.
“There’s going to be some serious fallout,” Lazenby-Blaser said. “It could destroy high school athletics.”
On Friday, CCS officials sent a letter to various athletic directors, principals and followers of high school athletics in hopes of starting a letter-writing campaign to their senators. Five state senators live within the CCS boundaries.
Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, said he plans to talk to Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, regarding the Senate bill before the April 5 meeting. Denham, who has an office in Salinas, said Ortiz’s idea is not similar to a bill regarding interdistrict transfers he proposed in 2003.
“I wrote (a bill) so students could be closer to where their parents work,” Denham said. “A bill shouldn’t be made just for moving an athlete from a lower-performing team to a championship team.”
In one of the sub rules of Senate bill 1411, a school would have the opportunity to challenge a transfer to their athletic association.
However, Assembly bill 2312, created by Audra Strickland, R-Ventura, says that school districts and high school athletic governing bodies in the state – including the California Interscholastic Federation and the CCS – cannot prevent a student from taking part in athletics or extracurricular activities. A student also could transfer as many times as he or she wished.
“It’s like adding free agency to high school athletics,” said North Salinas High athletic director Jean Ashen. “I don’t see (the bills) as a healthy way to run high school sports. It takes away local control.”
Ashen said it also hurts team camaraderie; a student-athlete who transfers under the proposed system could more than likely take away playing time from another student-athlete who’s been on the team for several weeks.
“It should be about academics,” Ashen said. “Hopefully, Sacramento will be flooded with e-mails.”
The Southern Section, based in Los Alamitos, and the CCS are the only sections in the CIF to put notices on their Web sites regarding the proposed legislation.
