Public schools see ray of hope after Legislature opens door for separate playoffs
2026 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Twelve months ago Scott Conklin, a Centre County Democrat and member of the Pennsylvania state house, introduced a bill that would allow the PIAA to create separate playoffs for boundary and non-boundary schools.
The bill, addressing the long-raging public vs. private debate, went nowhere.
It collected dust.
It was mostly forgotten.
Until last week, when House Bill 41 finally made it to the floor and was passed overwhelmingly, 178-28. (Most of the dissenting votes came from the Philadelphia area.)
Out of nowhere, public school advocates – long weary of seeing parochial, private, and charter schools dominate in the marquee sports, basketball and football – saw a rainbow.
There was hope, finally, that the PIAA could level the playoff field – or rather separate it, the way New Jersey and other states have, with dual state championships: One for boundary, or public schools, one for non-boundary schools, which openly recruit student-athletes.
The public vs. private debate has burned throughout the Keystone State for decades. The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association has done its best to stay above the fray, citing a 1972 state law it believes forbids it to exclude parochial and private schools from its statewide playoffs.
House Bill 41 not only states that the PIAA would be allowed to have a dual playoff system but protects the state’s governing body with an indemnification amendment protecting it from lawsuits.
“Because of all the threats of lawsuits, the PIAA could have been sued into bankruptcy,” Conklin said.
That major hurdle was cleared last week.
Still, there are more ahead.
Before House Bill 41 becomes law it must be passed by the State Senate, then signed by Governor Josh Shapiro.
Conklin seems assured that the bill would pass overwhelmingly in the Senate – should it come to a vote. There are no assurances, of course, that that will happen. The Senate meets through the end of June, then takes a summer recess. It will reconvene briefly again in the fall.
That’s not a lot of time. If the Senate does not act on the bill it will die and Conklin – or someone else – will have to start the process again from the beginning.
“If it does not pass, the clock starts over again,” Conklin said of the two-year shelf life of such bills.
Conklin is counting on the public, and people such as Casey Scanlan, to spur the Senate into action. Scanlan, a former Parkland wide receiver, has made it his mission to see House Bill 41 become law. He has spent months petitioning school officials across the state to lobby for the bill.
Late last month a letter signed by 17 Berks County school district superintendents was sent to local state legislators, urging them to support the bill.
The letter stated that “Pennsylvania’s existing playoff system is rooted in conditions that no longer reflect today’s athletic landscape,” and that the current “structural imbalance has created disparities . . . that result in public school athletes facing increased safety risks, reduced access to scholarship pathways, and an uneven playing field that undermines the core values of athletics.”
Nearly 87 percent of Pennsylvania high school students are enrolled in public schools, yet in the last three years 24 of the 36 state basketball championships – girls and boys – were won by non-boundary schools. Eight of the 18 football championships – nearly 50 percent – were won by boundary schools.
“School sports are supposed to be about building confidence and teaching kids lessons in fair play,” Conklin said, “but the current system is teaching them all the wrong lessons.”
Public school officials became so enraged by the disparity in 2018 that it appeared we were on the verge of a civil war. Public school administrators gathered and openly talked about leaving the PIAA.
PIAA officials got the message; they quickly tightened their transfer rules and enacted the Competition Formula, a method of forcing perennial championship programs to play in higher classifications.
Those measures have been a band-aid, of sorts, but the wounds of the public vs. private battle remain unhealed.
“This bill doesn’t change anything that non-boundary schools do,” Conklin said. “They can still go about their business the same way. They can still recruit; they can still have these wonderful all-star teams; they can give many of these kids advantages they otherwise wouldn’t have. None of that changes.”
