This past week, the Arkansas Activities Association announced the approval of the classifications for the next two school years. A hot topic within of the last two years has been that of the Competitive Equity Factor. For local public schools it does not effect them as much as it does the private schools in the larger metro areas. I know what you’re thinking, “The private schools can recruit!” Sure, it is a rumor I know I have heard for 25 years of being around Arkansas High School Football. Heck, there was an article in the late 90’s in the Times Record covering recruiting and it’s possibility. So what got us to here?
Since the late 90’s the discussion of Private schools in the state of Arkansas has been everyone’s go to point in football every year. Then Gus Malzahn took the Cross Church owned Shiloh Christian to great heights and almost instantly rumors circulated regarding recruiting. Of course at the same time, another team in Arkansas was on the rise and accused of the same. Was it that Greenwood and Shiloh were recruiting or was it that they changed the game that much and no one had caught up? At the time powerhouses were Wynne and Alma, both running the highly effective Wing-T, three yards and cloud of dust offenses. For Greenwood and Shiloh, it was 3000 yards through the air. In the article mentioned above, former Greenwood Head Coach Ronnie Peacock said “We do not recruit, our program and it’s success does that.”
Here we are 25 years later. Greenwood and Shiloh are still topics of discussion, but what Kevin Kelley did with Pulaski Academy and their down the street neighbor Little Rock Christian are now added to the fold. The state and Arkansas Activities Association have done just about everything they can to slow down the non-public schools just short of telling them to play in their own classification. For this Resident News Sports writer, why should they? Currently, if a non-public school accepts a student-athlete from another district within a 25-mile radius, they must sit out the next athletic season. A few years ago, the AAA introduced a attendance multiplier to ensure a private school were in a classification on par with the area. That cycle had Shiloh Christian playing in the 5A. On the flip side of that, in 2015 the State of Arkansas passed a School Choice bill allowing public school students and their parents the opportunity of going to the school one district over. It is interesting to see public schools do ads on TV and Social Media that rival the collegiate ones we see watching sporting events. Now we are to the Competitive Equity Factor, if a non-public school team wins or is a runner-up in a State Championship, playoff victory, and/or has a winning conference record the school is to move up a Classification. If the team accumulates less than 2 points in a cycle they can move down a classification. This next cycle sees Pulaski Academy and Little Rock Christian Academy moving to the 7A. Shiloh Christian to the 6A. Harding Academy moves to the 5A.
Make no mistake, I am for the Competitive Equity Factor, but I feel it needs an adjustment. If the teams slated to move up are beat in their conference by a Public school mulitple times they should be able to stay in that classification. There are examples of this in this cycle with Pulaski Academy, Little Rock Christian and Shiloh Christian. I firmly believe for those three schools the Competitive Equity Factor got them to the Classification their program is competitive and not just dominating, which was the complaint for the last 25 years. Maybe, even extending out the period to which they earn points from 2 years to 4 years. Depending on how things go for all the non-public schools moving up, it is extremely possible that most of the non-public schools in Arkansas could be in the 6A for the 2026 season. I am certain by time that cycle rolls around there will be another AAA proposition, bill, or resolution passed trying to once again slow down the non-public schools. But, I think they finally got it right, they just have to go a step further in refining it.
One social media opinion pitched is the same factor used on public schools. For a school like Booneville, for example, that would place them in the 4A this coming year. Greenwood in the 7A, Little Rock Parkview back in the 6A. Could those teams fair well in those classifications? Maybe, I know Greenwood since 2004 is 31-9 against schools in the state’s largest classification in non-conference and in the hybrid 6A/7A conferences they tried.
While we try to make heads or tails as to what is next for Arkansas High School football, the view for any team should be what Shiloh Christian put on their Facebook regarding the move to the 6A West, “Just put the ball down and we’ll be there.”
