Request By:
Mr. Billy V. Wise, Commissioner
Kentucky High School Athletic Association
2280 Executive Drive
Lexington, Kentucky 40505
Opinion
Opinion By: Chris Gorman, Attorney General; Anne E. Keating, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion from the Attorney General interpreting House Bill 750 which amends KRS 156.070 effective July 14, 1992. In particular, you seek clarification on any changes in eligibility of 7th and 8th grade students to participate in high school athletics.
The State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education, which manages and controls the common schools and programs operated therein, is authorized to designate an organization to manage interscholastic athletics in the common schools. KRS 156.070(1) and (2). The agency so designated is the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. Any regulations of the association must be approved by the state board. Id. , (2).
The statutory requirements on regulation of participation in high school sports by 7th and 8th grade students now read as follows:
The state board or any agency designated by the state board to manage interscholastic athletics shall not promulgate rules, administrative regulations, or bylaws which prohibit pupils in grades seven (7) to eight (8) from participating in any high school sports except for high school varsity wrestling, soccer, and football , or from participating on more than one (1) school-sponsored team at the same time in the same sport. The State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education, or an agency designated by the board to manage interscholastic athletics, may promulgate administrative regulations restricting, limiting or prohibiting participation in high school varsity wrestling, soccer, and football for students who have not successfully completed the eighth grade.
Acts 1992, House Bill 750 amending KRS 156.070(2), emphasis added to indicate amendment in question.
It is the opinion of this office that, effective July 14, 1992, under KRS 156.070(2) the State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education and the Kentucky High School Athletic Association may, by rule, administrative regulation, or bylaw, restrict or prohibit 7th and 8th grade students from participating in high school varsity wrestling, soccer, and football. The amendment modifies the previous statutory requirement that neither the state board nor the athletic association might prohibit 7th and 8th grade students from participating in high school sports. Regulation of participation of 7th or 8th grade students in high school varsity wrestling, soccer, and football is not mandatory, but within the discretion of the state board and the athletic association.
We have previously opined that the prohibition of the statute applies to local school boards as well as to the state board and to the KHSAA, although nothing prohibits those entities from making rules that limit a student's participation in sports activities based on the student's health, safety, and academic standing. OAG 90-87. We remain of that opinion.