MHSAA alters competitive enrollment rules for private schools without warning
The Mississippi High School Activities Association announced Tuesday a new competitive balance measure to go into effect for the 2027-2028 school year.
In a video posted to misshsaa.com, executive director Rickey Neaves revealed that private school members will have their enrollment artificially inflated by 50%.
Neaves explained the move was in line with other competitive balance multipliers used by neighboring states.
But according to local administrators, the MHSAA did not provide any advance warning about the coming shift in the classification alignment process, nor did it consult with member schools that could be affected by the change.
“We found out like everyone else, through social media,” St. Patrick athletic director and football coach Nate Encrapera told the Sun Herald. “You would think if you do stuff like this you would gather a committee, gather all the information and hear from everybody and see what everybody thought about it.”
The MHSAA did not provide a formal news release.
Several surrounding states have used multipliers to balance public schools with enrollment bound to a school district with private schools that do not face a hard restriction on where students come from.
Alabama’s AHSAA uses a 1.35 multiplier for private schools. Tennessee uses a 1.8 multiplier and Arkansas a 1.75 multiplier.
Louisiana uses a split system where public schools and private schools have their own dedicated postseason brackets.
“This was done because private schools can control what classification they’re in by limiting the number of people that attend there,” Neaves said in a statement. “And also, as far as competitiveness, as a fair-play advantage.”
The Mississippi Coast has four MHSAA member private schools. Two of them will not be affected by the change.
According to Sea Coast Echo reporter Joe Gex, St. Stanislaus and Our Lady Academy have been under a double-enrollment multiplier since 1982 and therefore will not be subject to the 1.5 multiplier. The two schools receive the hefty multiplier because they are the only two MHSAA schools that are single-sex institutions.
“They multiply the counted enrollment double, assuming that the same number of opposite sex would attend the schools,” Gex said.
Gex also informed the Sun Herald that administrators and coaches at SSC and OLA were not made aware of a multiplier ahead of its sudden announcement.
St. Patrick does stand to be affected.
The school is on the upper end of 3A enrollment numbers, and a multiplier would push St. Patrick to the line separating 4A and 5A.
The Fighting Irish football program has struggled to consistently field a deep roster even for the 3A level, where they are 6-32 in their last four MHSAA seasons.
St. Patrick’s soccer programs, however, have claimed several state titles in recent years. In response to the dominance of soccer programs at St. Patrick, St. Stanislaus and St. Andrews in Jackson, soccer coaches at public schools have lobbied the MHSAA for a competitive balance system in recent years.
Several coaches endorsed a letter sent to the MHSAA in 2024 that argued “every single soccer season played at the class I level in Mississippi denies athletes the true opportunity to compete in a meaningful end of season tournament” due to the historical dominance of private schools and their “reign of terror” in soccer.
The letter pushed for the reclassification of private schools because the schools have a student body that “can be, and is, curated for a competitive advantage.”
Encrapera told the Sun Herald that St. Patrick does not recruit athletes and that the school may appeal the decision.
“It’s shocking, we kind of don’t understand that number,” Encrapera said of the multiplier. “I think the biggest sticking point is that 1.5 number. That seems really steep. I kind of hoped there would be a little more research and planning before making some kind of move like that.”
Resurrection Catholic in Pascagoula could also see its classification change. The school has always competed in the 1A class, but a 1.5 multiplier would have placed RCS in 2A if the multiplier were active this cycle.
