TSSAA Legislative Council votes to remove residence rule to address boarding school advantage

Yahoo

08-04-2025

The TSSAA Legislative Council voted 12-1 Tuesday to remove the residence rule from its bylaws, in order to address a competitive advantage that boarding schools had over other Tennessee high schools.
The Council's decision focused on leveling the playing field for schools, mostly private, that have not been allowed to enroll international students the way boarding schools have.
The change does not have a direct or intended effect on the TSSAA's transfer rule.
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The TSSAA's previous residence rule allowed boarding students to gain immediate athletic eligibility without a bona fide change of address if transferring from 20 or more miles away.
Transfer students at non-boarding private schools and public schools weren't allowed to do that because they did not have a 12-month established residence. Those students had to gain eligibility through TSSAA hardship waivers, or if their entire family unit moved into the zone to which they're transferring.
Removing the rule also means schools don't have to verify if incoming freshmen have lived at their current residence for the past 12 months, something TSSAA executive director Mark Reeves said should have been done a long time ago.
'It's almost impossible for us to ask schools to be able to know the last 12 months history of a student, who they've been living with,' Reeves said. 'There's a comfort level we've developed in the months leading up to this, in visiting with other states who don't have those restrictions and have not seen a problem.'
Discussions about the boarding school advantage go back years. Chattanooga-area boarding schools Baylor and McCallie have dominated the Division II-AAA football state championships since 2019. McCallie has won back-to-back TSSAA football titles in addition to three straight from 2019-21. Baylor won it in 2022.
Those teams included international athletes who were granted immediate eligibility.
In February, the Council approved a change that denies athletic eligibility for an international student who has completed secondary school requirements in his/her country of origin. That remains in effect.
McCallie athletic director Kenny Sholl, who voted for the change Tuesday, has said most of McCallie's international transfers have been coming from Quebec, Canada, which ends high school after 10th grade.
Webb School - Bell Buckle, a boarding school, defeated MTCS 73-43 in the TSSAA 2023 Division II-A girls basketball championship with a powerful roster of international players
'I think (equity) is what we accomplished today,' said Council member Robert Sain, who is the MTCS principal and voted for the change. 'Now, if a school can attract a student athlete for whatever reason in the Division II world, at least we have the same opportunity to attract the same athlete that boarding schools can without the residence part being a restrictor.'
The residence rule and transfer rule are not the same.
To illustrate the difference, the Council pondered the example Tuesday that if a student begins school as a freshman at one high school while living with their aunt and cousin, they cannot transfer to a school in a different zone where their parents live and gain immediate eligibility, because their whole family unit where they established their athletic record did not move with them.
Transfer students with established athletic records still must have a bona fide change of residence to be eligible at the varsity level, unless they meet the criteria for the TSSAA's recently amended transfer rule. The rule allows students one free transfer to another school due to reasons of significant academic, social-emotional, environmental or mental health need as long as the sending school's administration could attest the move is not for athletic or disciplinary reasons.
There could be scenarios where not having a residence rule allows more opportunities for immediate transfers under the 'social-emotional' exception, but Reeves said the TSSAA approves many of those as hardships anyway. Schools being able to weigh in on the transfer is a guardrail too, he said.
Council member Catherine Chubb, assistant head of school at Hutchison, was the only vote against the residence rule change. She said she believes not having a residence rule could nudge Tennessee closer to an environment like the NCAA's where transfer opportunities expand rapidly.
'I think there's some concern that some of this is moving that way,' Chubb said. 'This is part of a bigger conversation with what's collectively happening with some of our rules.'
Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at [e-mail] and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @tpalmateer83.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA Legislative Council votes to remove residence rule