SCHSL to consider changes to transfer rules, multiplier. Here’s what we know
The state’s athletic directors this spring will consider changes to the S.C. High School League’s constitution. Those proposed changes will first go before the league’s executive committee this week.
There are 21 proposed amendments that will be reviewed, according to documents sent to ADs in South Carolina and obtained by The State. The SCHSL legislative subcommittee discussed the amendments Tuesday in a Zoom video call before bringing them before the league’s executive committee Wednesday for recommendation.
The SCHSL executive committee will recommend (or not recommend) each proposed amendment. After Wednesday, the proposed changes will be discussed in February’s classification meetings and then 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.
Among the highlights: The groups will hear proposed changes to senior transfer rules and the out-of-zone multiplier, as well as requests to amend other recruiting-related transfer penalties.
A closer look at those three subjects and the amendment proposals:
Senior transfer rules
There are two amendment proposals regarding senior transfers in South Carolina. One amendment would make it easier when seniors change schools; another would make it tougher on those transfers.
Rock Hill Schools Superintendent Deborah Elder sponsored an amendment that would do away with seniors having to sit out 22 days or a third of total games when they transfer.
The current rule says, “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.
The amendment’s sponsor said there are legitimate reasons students might transfer for their senior year such as “changes in residence, academic needs, or personal and family circumstances,” and that “treating senior transfers differently from underclassmen creates inconsistencies and unnecessary barriers for students.”
A separate proposed change 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 grow to being forced to miss half of the team’s contests in all sports in which the student participated during the 12 months prior to the transfer.
The change, the sponsors say, is “for maintaining competitive equity, curbing recruitment pressures, fostering school stability and protecting the educational integrity of high school athletics.”
There was discussion not to recommend both changes but no vote was taken because the meeting fell below the threshold to have a quorum of minimum members.
Out-of-zone multiplier
There are a few proposals that would change the league’s out-of-zone multiplier. 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 effect for 2026-28.
One amendment proposed by Greer Middle College principal Jimmy Armstrong would decrease the multiplier to two students.
The amendment’s sponsor says it makes sense to decrease the multiplier because of the state’s one-time transfer rule and that “reducing the multiplier to 2.0 will help balance the effect of an artificial enrollment number on all member schools.”
But during Tuesday’s legislative subcommittee meeting, Armstrong withdrew the proposed change and plans on doing a study on the topic and then bring it back up for discussion at a later date.
In a second proposal, Armstrong asked that the multiplier not count for students “of certified professionals at the high school (grades 9-12) and military active duty dependent children.”
That amendment change was recommended by the SCHSL legislative subcommittee and also added employees of that particular high school, not just certified professionals.
Armstrong and Christ Church head of school David Padilla also have an amendment proposal that wouldn’t count the multiplier toward any student enrolled at the school or designated feeder school since the fifth grade or earlier.
This amendment change is likely connected to an appeal Christ Church made over the 2026-28 realignment plan. According to Padilla, there were 56 students (30 from outside the school’s attendance zone) who started at Christ Church during elementary school. If those students weren’t used in the multiplier, the school would be in Class 2A instead of 3A. That appeal was denied.
The amendment’s sponsors said “prevents unintended consequences for families who made early educational choices unrelated to athletics.”
The legislative subcommittee voted 2-2 on the issue, which means it wasn’t recommended.
Recruiting and ineligibility
A current rule says, “The student will be ineligible in the sport for one calendar year if the student moves in with a coach of the coaching staff, has participated on an outside team in which a coach or volunteer coach from the school to which the student is transferring coached or had input into the selection of the outside team.”
There are two amendment proposals to this rule. One, sponsored by Lexington 1’s Price and Eastside High School principal Todd Stafford, would try and stop some of the recruiting by outside personal trainers who are on a high school coaching staff.
They propose adding this language of making a student ineligible for a year if they “received or attended personal training sessions with any coach or volunteer coach from the school to which the student is transferring coached.”
The SCHSL also proposed an amendment change on the same existing rule. The league’s idea, however, eliminates the language about participation in an “outside team” with a coach as being a violation. The SCHSL’s suggested change doesn’t address personal trainers and their possible influence.
Both proposals say their purpose is to “eliminate improper recruitment pathways, protect student-athletes from undue influence” and to “ensure competitive equity among schools.”
The two proposals were discussed but no vote was taken because the meeting fell below the threshold to have a quorum of minimum members.
Additions to SCHSL executive committee
The legislative subcommittee voted 4-0 to recommend the addition of two members of the SC House of Representatives House of Representative Education Committee and two members of the SC Senate Education Committee to the SCHSL executive committee.
Currently, there are no members from SC Senate and House of Representatives on the SCHSL executive committee.
The proposed change was sponsored by Saluda principal Robert Etheridge and South Aiken principal Samuel Fuller and “allows the State Legislature an opportunity to participate in the governance of the SCHSL.”
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 7:40 AM with the headline "SCHSL to consider changes to transfer rules, multiplier. Here’s what we know."
