Private-public issue worthy of more debate

They are not winning a disproportionate number of CIF championships. They are not receiving a disproportionate number of transfers.

But there are some advantages that private schools have over public schools, advantages enough to consider placing public schools and private schools in separate CIF playoff divisions, at least in some sports.

The big private schools (placing "parochial" schools in that category) have displayed a growing ability to hire big-name coaches that the public schools cannot, because private schools have the freedom to offer salaries that public schools are restricted from offering. The big private schools often have fundraising resources that many public schools lack.

Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman writes about a shrinking middle class and a widening gap between the haves and have-nots in America. One can see, if Krugman is correct, such trends having an effect on what could become a growing disparity between the competitive success of private and public schools in, at least, Southern California.

Creating separate playoff divisions for private and public schools in the CIF-Southern Section has come up in conversation with county coaches and athletic administrators for decades, and a couple of years ago even became a proposal that was quickly withdrawn before it went to a vote of the CIF-SS Council (the body of CIF-SS member school representatives that makes CIF-SS rules and regulations).

It was around the time of this Century League-sponsored proposal that the CIF-SS office released, in February 2008, a "Public-Parochial-Private Championships Study" that showed private schools were not dominating CIF championships, and were not even close to it. At that time, public schools comprised 62 percent of the CIF-SS school membership but had won 70 percent of CIF-SS team championships over a 28-year period. Private schools, comprising 38 percent of the CIF-SS membership, had won 30 percent of team CIF-SS team titles over that period.

Sure, private schools are the destination of athletic transfers. But the top public school athletic programs in Orange County get plenty of incoming transfers, too.

It is unclear if the 28-year trends cited in the CIF-SS report will continue. The feeling here is that private schools, at least in Orange County and in some other CIF-SS pockets like the Ventura area, and perhaps some day in the Inland Empire, could be gaining some momentum that will alter those trends.

What if such a concept was reintroduced again as a proposal? Could private-school divisions be created, divisions that were fair and made sense?

In some sports, sure, but not in every sport.

The big dog when it comes to releaguing and so much more in high school sports is football. And in football, one or more CIF-SS Private Division groups could be created.

First, a couple of things to keep in mind: football playoff brackets are 16-team brackets; and, ideally, any proposal to create separate divisions would coincide with the next releaguing period (current leagues are in place through the 2013-14 school year) to ease transition.

Admittedly, the following can be second-guessed and criticized. This is just "what if ... " and food-for-thought stuff ...

CIF-SS Private Large-School Division

Leagues: Del Rey (current membership is Bishop Montgomery, Bosco Tech, Cantwell Sacred Heart, La Salle, Mary Star, St. Bernard, Verbum Dei); Mission (Cathedral, Chaminade, Harvard-Westlake, Serra of Gardena, St. Francis, St. Paul); Serra (Alemany, Bishop Amat, Crespi, Loyola, Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks); Trinity (JSerra, Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran, Santa Margarita, Servite, St. John Bosco).

As the top three finishers in five- and six-team leagues, and the top four finishers in seven- and eight-team leagues receive guaranteed entry into the playoffs, there would be three guaranteed entries from the Mission, Serra and Trinity leagues, and four from the Del Rey League. That makes a total of 13 guaranteed entries, with room for three at-large teams in the division.

What about some of the big private school football programs that are members of leagues made up mostly of public schools? Schools like Oaks Christian and St. Bonaventure? They would be pulled from the public-school area and brought into the private school division, much like freelance schools – schools not members of any type of leagues – are placed into various divisions now, and would be eligible for one of the at-large berths which would be filled by a private-school at-large playoff committee.

If the Del Rey League is considered to be a poor competitive fit, then it could be excluded. Then the large-school private division would have nine guaranteed qualifiers and room for seven at-large teams.

Where would the Del Rey League team go? Here ...

CIF-SS Private Middle-School Division

Leagues: Alpha (four guaranteed qualifiers); Olympic (three); Santa Fe (three); and Del Rey (four).

That would be 14 guaranteed qualifiers, with room for two at-large teams. As in the Private Large-School division, competing for this division's at-large berths would be private schools that play in mixed leagues, schools like Calvary Chapel of the Orange Coast League, Notre Dame of Riverside (Mountain Valley League), and Bishop Diego, Grace Brethren, Santa Clara and Villanova Prep from the Frontier League (or, during the coinciding releaguing cycle, the one public school in the Frontier, Malibu, could be placed in an all-public school league).

CIF-SS Small-School Division

Leagues: Academy (two); Ambassador (three); Arrowhead (two); Prep (three); and San Joaquin (three). There would be room for three at-large teams, and there are a couple of private schools playing in smaller mixed-school leagues.

Some might say, "CIF would never allow separate divisions." But CIF-SS officials, the commissioner and assistant commissioners et al, don't make rules, nor do they push for adoption of or dismissal of proposals. They govern within the rules given to them by CIF-SS member schools.