High school league offers to alter transfer rules

02/27/2007

By John Millea,
Star Tribune
Last update: February 26, 2007 – 8:52 PM


A scheduled formal meeting between lawmakers and representatives of the Minnesota State High School League was not held Monday because the House of Representatives was in session all day, but the MSHSL did offer to modify its proposed new rules for transfer students.

The proposal states that students who change schools without a change of residence would be ineligible for varsity athletics and MSHSL-sponsored fine arts activities for one year. The MSHSL offered to remove fine arts from the plan.

Rep. Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, and Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul, left the House session to talk with executive director Dave Stead and lobbyist Roger Aronson from the MSHSL.

"[Removing fine arts from the plan] is one of the items for discussion by the [MSHSL board of directors], and frankly I would support that kind of a thing," Stead said. "It doesn't affect music and visual arts right now because there's no advancement to a state championship. And there are very few people who transfer under those conditions."

Fine arts affected by the proposal are one-act play, speech and debate.

Bills have been introduced in the House and Senate that would override the MSHSL rule change by allowing transfers to remain eligible. Hilstrom, author of the House bill, said she has requested that a hearing be held to discuss the bill.

"We do have a clear difference in perspective here," Hilstrom said. "From [the MSHSL] perspective, they want open enrollment kids to prove that they open enrolled for the correct reasons, for academics and not athletics. Whereas I don't believe that all open enrollment children move for sports and that they should have to proof that. That's really where the rubber meets the road here."