How SCHSL panel voted regarding changes for transfers, other rules
The South Carolina High School League’s executive committee on Wednesday voted against recommending several proposed changes, including ones regarding senior transfers and out-of-zone multipliers.
The committee’s recommendations aren’t the final say, as the 21 proposed changes will be officially voted on March 18 at the S.C. Athletic Administrators Association conference in Charleston. Whatever is passed by the ADs in March will go into effect starting with the 2026-27 school year.
“Just to clarify, it is only a recommendation,” SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton said Wednesday. “Whatever comes out of this (executive committee meeting) doesn’t mean it is going to happen.”
Here are some of the highlights on key topics from the meeting:
Senior transfer rules
The committee voted 7-3 to not recommend two changes regarding senior transfers.
The first one, sponsored by Rock Hill Schools Superintendent Deborah Elder, would do away with seniors having to sit out 22 days or a third of total games if they were to transfer for the first time in their final year.
Under the current rule, “Senior transfers … are subject to a 22 calendar days period of ineligibility or 1/3 the Maximum Number of Contests, whichever is less in which the student participated during the 12 months preceding the transfer. The timing of the transfer dictates the actual penalty.”
Committee member Matthew Hiers made a motion to recommend the change because some seniors transfer because of certain graduation credits and for possible legal reasons.
“If we are treating ninth through 11th grade one way and seniors another way, that could come back and bite us in the end,” Hiers said.
But that recommendation was voted down.
The second change, sponsored by Lexington 1 Superintendent Keith Price and South Aiken principal Samuel Fuller, would increase the amount of time a senior transfer would have to sit out. The penalty would force the student to miss half of the team’s games in all sports in which the student participated during the 12 months prior to the transfer.
“We want to limit the transfers for the purpose of athletics,” Fuller said during the meeting. “Senior transfers, for the most part that I have seen, are for athletic reasons. This would discourage senior transfers.”
Fuller made a recommendation to pass the change but didn’t get a second. It was then voted down.
Out-of-zone multiplier
The committee voted 12-1 to not count students from out of the designated attendance zone against the multiplier if their parents were employees of the school or active military.
The multiplier — which counts a single student who attends a school from outside the attendance zone as three toward total enrollment — went into effect for 2024-26 realignment and is still in effect for 2026-28.
A second proposal regarding out-of-zone students was not recommended, 7-6. That change, sponsored by Greer Middle College Head of School Jimmy Armstrong and Christ Church head of school David Padilla, was so students would not be counted against the multiplier if they are enrolled at the school or designated feeder school since the fifth grade or earlier.
A third proposal, which would have decreased the multiplier to two, was withdrawn.
Additions to SCHSL executive committee
It was recommended 12-1 to add two members of the SC House of Representatives Education Committee and two members of the SC Senate Education Committee to the SCHSL executive committee.
It also was recommended 13-0 that the terms of each member would be two years.
Currently, there are no members from the SC Senate and House of Representatives on the SCHSL executive committee. The proposed change, sponsored by Saluda principal Robert Etheridge and South Aiken principal Samuel Fuller, “allows the State Legislature an opportunity to participate in the governance of the SCHSL.”
Another proposed change regarding the restructuring of the executive committee was voted down 10-3. This would have made the committee have more classification-based representation, with five principals, five superintendents and five athletic administrators with each class represented.
“While it is a significant change to the current structure, currently we have a large group that would like to at least test the waters,” committee member Harrison Goodwin said.
Bye-bye Week 0
At the end of the meeting, Singleton talked about the proposed changes to the sporting calendar. Among them was that the term Week 0 would be going away from the high school football schedule.
Previously, it was called Week 0 to give teams an opportunity to start the season a week earlier and then have a bye during the season and end with Week 10.
Now, it will be Week 1-11 with games beginning on Aug. 21 this year. Teams have 11 weeks to play 10 games. Some teams likely will still use the opening week for a bye. It just won’t be called Week 0.
There also was talk about moving dates up for spring championships so as not to interfere with graduations, which happened last year. Championships for baseball and softball also didn’t end until after Memorial Day.
The calendar goes up for approval at next month’s executive committee meeting.
Girls wrestling adding a classification
The SCHSL executive committee unanimously approved the addition of a second classification for girls dual wrestling championships this year.
Girls wrestling is in its fourth year as a sanctioned sport by the SCHSL and held its first dual championship in 2025. There was a 16-team bracket last year, but because of the increase in the number of teams, there will be enough that it warrants a second championship classification.
This story was originally published January 28, 2026 at 6:22 PM with the headline "How SCHSL panel voted regarding changes for transfers, other rules."
