HARRISBURG – Beaver County Rep. Rob Matzie plans to introduce legislation to analyze the PA Interscholastic Athletic Association, with an eye toward overhauling how the PIAA operates and makes decisions. Matzie, the vice chairman of the PA Athletic Oversight Committee, said he is introducing his measure in response to concerns involving the ways in which PIAA classifies schools for competition that can impact the fairness of those competitions and endanger student athlete safety. He said that because of a flaw in the classification formula that PIAA uses to determine the athletic levels at which high schools will compete, schools that voluntarily play up in a higher classification are then pigeonholed by the association into that classification used for the formula, regardless of the school’s actual enrollment size. Matzie said the formula endangers students from schools that don’t have the bodies to field larger rosters or the financial resources to match larger athletic budgets, in effect punishing schools that voluntarily seek better competition. He added it’s been nearly 25 years since the last thorough review of the PIAA and is well past time for the legislature to have another look.
REP. ROB MATZIE