Idaho superintendents overrule IHSAA board, vote to change sports classifications

Idaho high school superintendents overrode a decision by the Idaho High School Activities Association board of directors on Tuesday and approved a new classification system for athletics, starting in fall 2024.

The system will keep six classifications but create a new “6A” as the largest and eliminate the previous split 1A classification.

The IHSAA board voted the proposal down in August by an 8-6 vote, but the administrators asked for a “special meeting” within the IHSAA bylaws in order to push the proposal through.

Under the current system, the 5A classification included schools with a population of 1,281 students and above. The approved proposal creates a 6A classification of 1,400-plus enrollment.

The old 1A Division I and Division II were eliminated and replaced simply with 2A and 1A, with enrollment numbers adjusted for each of the classifications.

The measure passed with 66% of administrators statewide voting yes. But the split was noticeable, as just two of 13 (15%) District 1 (North Idaho) administrators voting for, according to the Idaho Statesman.

District 3 (Boise area) and 4 (Twin Falls area) voted 82% and 81% in favor.

The biggest change in North Idaho is Lewiston dropping down from the largest classification, leaving Coeur d’Alene, Lake City and Post Falls as the only 6A schools in North Idaho.

Lewiston and Moscow are part of District 2, which voted 65% in favor of the proposal.

As a four-team league, the Inland Empire League 5A received one automatic bid plus a play-in to the state tournaments. Dropping from four to three teams in the league will affect season scheduling, district tournament formatting and the league could lose the potential for a second team to qualify for state.

State bid allotments were not addressed in Tuesday’s decision.

New classifications for North Idaho

6A: Coeur d’Alene, Lake City, Post Falls. 5A: Lakeland, Lewiston, Moscow, Sandpoint. 4A: Bonners Ferry, Timberlake. 3A: Coeur d’Alene Charter, Grangeville, Kellogg, Orofino, Priest River, St. Maries. 2A: Clark Fork, Genesis Prep, Lakeside, Wallace. 1A: Kootenai, Mullan.

Currently, the 5A and 4A schools (6A and 5A in the approved proposal) in the Inland Empire League play against each other in-league for all sports except football and wrestling, then break into classifications for postseason.