Legislation Dealing With High School Football Playoffs In La. Not Moving Forward

Abbeville Rep. Bob Hensgens has decided to drop his bill that would have attempted to stop the Louisiana High School Athletic Association from enforcing a split playoff system in high school football, beginning this fall. It was on the La. House Education Committee's agenda.

In January, principals from LHSAA member schools voted in favor of Proposition 18, which will separate public schools and private/parochial schools into "non-select" and "select" divisions, respectively. Hensgens' bill would have prohibited public schools from participating in the LHSAA. At the time, he said, "If they are a legitimate Louisiana school that provides a Louisiana diploma, they should all play in one playoff system."

But since then, Rep. Hensgens says the LHSAA "did come to some resolutions in our direction. I still have a little bit of a problem that there is no private schools that ever will be able to be a non-select school and there is no mechanism for them to become a non-select school," says Hensgens. But he says he's glad to see the LHSAA school relations committee has recommended that private schools will have the same number of brackets as public schools.

It was resolved as they created five playoff systems for the select schools just like they did the non-select schools. So they get to play the same amount of playoffs.