The foundational mission of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) is to provide equitable competition among schools of comparable size. However, as long as private and parochial schools are allowed to compete in the same postseason as public schools, that mission is failing. Public schools like White Plains are bound by district lines; private schools are not. It is time to stop pretending these two systems are operating on the same level. 

While private schools report their size via Basic Educational Data Systems (BEDS) numbers, an annual count used by the state to track school enrollment, their “effective enrollment” is essentially unlimited. A public-school athlete must live in the local community, but private schools can recruit regionally and nationally, assembling rosters that far exceed the population of the district. 

When I spoke with White Plains Assistant Athletic Director Michael Chappas, he acknowledged these advantages but offered a grounding perspective. He noted that while it is frustrating that private schools do not abide by the same transparency rules or residency restrictions as public schools, facing these teams helps our student-athletes realize that everything is not always fair in life.

While that is a valuable life lesson, should our state athletic association be the one tilting the scales?

“However, at the very core of interscholastic athletics lies the pursuit of healthy equitable competition–and for that ideal to hold true, all participating schools must compete under the same rules,” Chappas also noted.

Albertus Magnus, a small Catholic school in Rockland County with a population of roughly 400 students, seems like an underdog on paper. Still, their girls’ soccer team has become a national powerhouse. They have secured two consecutive state championships in Class AA and were ranked sixth in the country by MaxPreps. Because of this level of sustained dominance, they have been moved to Class AAA for the upcoming season for girls’ soccer. 

This means White Plains athletes will likely have to face a team composed of recruits from the tristate area and beyond just to advance in the state playoffs. Under the NYSPHSAA’s performance-based reclassification, teams can be moved up if they achieve a .750 winning percentage or higher, or if they win a state title. While this is a step toward parity, it fails to address the core issue: moving a team up in class does not stop them from recruiting talent public schools simply cannot access, and it does nothing to address the “effective enrollment” that allows them to perform at a national level. 

For Albertus Magnus’s schedule this year, their conference was made up of Bronxville, Tuckahoe, Dobbs Ferry and Hastings. All of these small schools were forced to play a powerhouse in Magnus twice, with Magnus scoring 56 goals and giving up zero in conference play. During the entire season, they scored 95 goals and gave up five. That is a statistical anomaly, not a competitive match. For White Plains girls’ soccer to have to go through Albertus Magnus in order to make it to the regional finals is, quite frankly, a significant competitive imbalance. 

So, what are some potential options for Albertus Magnus? They could move to the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA), where they would face similar programs in New York City and Westchester. Another option is a prep school league, where they would compete with Westchester schools like Holy Child, The Masters School, Rye Country Day and other teams in Connecticut.

In Albertus Magnus’s defense, they are not the only school that accepts tuition fees to attend. Some White Plains students actually pay tuition to attend the district if they live in neighboring areas like West Harrison or Greenburgh. However, this is a regulated practice tied to school capacity, not a market-driven recruitment tool for building athletic rosters. Private schools like Magnus also rely on alumni donations; if that funding shifts, their programs suffer. Despite that financial reliance, it does not grant them a moral right to distort the competitive integrity of public school championships in New York. 

The Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents (LHCSS) has officially called for the NYSPHSAA to adopt separate postseason classifications for private and parochial schools. This is the only equitable path forward. It would allow for regular-season play while ensuring that state championships are determined by community-based excellence, not the reach of a recruiting network. 

If private schools wish to remain in the NYSPHSAA, they must at least operate with the transparency required of their public counterparts, including adherence to FOIL laws, financial disclosure and annual attestations against recruitment. If the NYSPHSAA refuses to enact these reforms, it confirms that it is an organization lacking the accountability necessary to govern public school athletics. Our athletes deserve a chance to compete on a field that is level, where the winner is determined by the final whistle, not tilted by an unfair advantage before the first one even blows.