AHSAA Central Board approves classification system for 2022-2024

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - The Alabama High School Athletic Association Central Board of Control unanimously approved the current seven-classification system for championship play for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.

The seven-class system, which began in 2014-15, was approved once again for all sports.

Member schools are reclassified every two years.

The high schools are currently divided into seven classifications (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A and 7A) for competition in championship programs.

Classification is based on Average Daily Membership (ADM) figures furnished by the State Department of Education for public schools for grades 9 through 11 plus eighth-grade hold-back students. Member private schools report that same data directly to the AHSAA.

Each private school student counts 1.35 for classification purposes. A competitive balance success factor is also applied to private school sports teams which affects approximately 10% of private school teams.

Alignments were also released for fall sports, which recently completed championship play for the 2021-22 school year, based on the number of schools declaring to participate in a sport for the upcoming 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. Some programs may include two or more classes in a division.

“More than 190,000 student-athletes are expected to participate in AHSAA sports activities during the upcoming classification period,” Central Board President Van Phillips, principal at Center Point High School, said.

The 2022-23 and 2023-24 football alignment places the 32 largest high schools in Class 7A and 57 in Class 6A, 56 in Class 5A, 62 in Class 4A, 60 in Class 3A, 60 in Class 2A, and 62 in Class 1A.

“I want to thank the Classification Task Force, Central Board and AHSAA staff for their dedicated effort and time put in and the recommendations they made,” AHSAA Executive Director Alvin Briggs said. “As always, it was a difficult job, but everyone worked together to find the best solution as we move forward.”

Phillips said he also wanted to thank the Classification Task Force and member schools for their input and patience throughout the reclassification process. “These recommendations came after many hours of study and discussion. Everyone involved gave of their valuable time to evaluate our classification system thoroughly and provided valuable input in ways to improve that system,” he said. “On behalf of the Central Board of Control and our member schools, I want to thank Mr. Briggs and his staff for their hard work. I also want to thank our Central Board for their commitment and dedication to providing a first-class athletic program to all our student-athletes, and for making decisions that are best for all of our member schools.”

The reclassification alignment data for each sport and the private school competitive balance chart can be found at the following link located at www.ahsaa.com. Reclassification by enrollment data is located on the home page of www.ahsaa.com.

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