As mentioned in the 2023-2026 Football Realignment thread, Boone County High School petitioned that the KHSAA consider taking additional measures regarding the household incomes for each school into account by using the percentage of students within each school who are eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Also noted in that thread by @TheBigMeach, Iowa's IAHSAA Board Of Control just voted in such a measure.

Is a measure like that called for in Kentucky?

From the Realignment thread:
 

9 hours ago, TheBigMeach said:

Thought the Boone County argument was interesting considering I was reading an article from a coach I follow in Iowa. Just posted yesterday that the Iowa BoC voted to do just what Boone has suggested. Here is a link to the article and an excerpt. Not sure if other states do the same.  

https://www.iahsaa.org/football-classification-approved-2023-24/

The classification adjustment will reduce 40 percent of a school’s free or reduced lunch (FRL) count from their annual enrollment to determine their final classification number.

“The State Board recognized the historical competitive challenges, supported by the data our staff assembled, which some of our schools have experienced,” Keating said. “The Board acknowledged the support from our member schools in this issue.”

- Longtime BGP Lurker, First Time BGP Poster ?

Here is where to find some of the most recent info on the numbers eligible for the free and reduced lunch program within each school. The KY BOE has this year's data along with the previous 5 years available to download.

Just now, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Here is where to find some of the most recent info on the numbers eligible for the free and reduced lunch program within each school. The KY BOE has this year's data along with the previous 5 years available to download.

According to the BOE's report for the 2022-2023 school year...

Boone County Schools
Boone County HS: 938 of 1282 total students (73.17%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Conner HS: 409 of 1429 total students (33.03%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Cooper HS: 385 of 1458 total students (30.45%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Ryle HS: 604 of 2008 total students (32.62%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Football State Finalists
Pikeville HS: 150 of 512 total students (31.84%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Raceland HS: 184 of 307 total students (59.87%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Beechwood HS: 93 of 498 total students (16.67%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program. *

Mayfield HS: 540 of 575 total students (93.91%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Boyle County HS: 325 of 854 total students (38.06%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program. **

Corbin HS: 367 of 851 total students (43.13%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program. ***

Christian Academy Louisville: 0 of 644 total students (0.00%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program. ****

Bardstown HS: 535 of 697 total students (76.76%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Frederick Douglass HS: 1140 of 1666 total students (68.43%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Bowling Green HS: 955 of 1294 total students (73.80%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Bullitt East HS: 433 of 1536 total students (29.75%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

Male HS: 720 of 1989 total students (41.03%) of the student body eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

* No information available from KY BOE reporting. Information taken from 2021-2022 National Center For Education Statistics data: Beechwood High School.

** No information available from KY BOE reporting. Information taken from 2021-2022 National Center For Education Statistics data: Boyle County High School.

*** No information available from KY BOE reporting. Information taken from 2021-2022 National Center For Education Statistics data: Corbin High School.

**** No information available from KY BOE reporting of the National Center For Education Statistics. Data retrieved from the school's 2010 US DOE Blue Ribbon School application.

That doesn’t make any sense to classify this way. 

From the beginning of football classification in 1959, it made sense to the powers-that-be to classify based on school enrollment. The thought was that the more boys you have to draw from, the more competitive your football team should be.

Whether that was flawed from that start or whether the game and boys playing it have evolved over the ears, I’m not sure. But I am sure that the year-in-and-year-out competitiveness of a school’s football program is dependent on many factors, and most are clearly more important than the number of boys in the school. 
 

How am I so sure enrollment isn’t the most important factor? We can easily isolate that datapoint because it is the current criterion for football classification. One can look in the larger classes and count the number of schools that would be beaten by the best 1A or 2A schools. There are many 6A, 5A, 4A and 3A schools that would be dominated by Pikeville, Beechwood, etc. 
 

I don’t have a proposal to put forward, but I have a method for analyzing it. Just look at the usual championship suspects over the past thirty years, and reverse engineer what they have in common that the less competitive schools lack.

I honestly think it would just be better if we could come up with a promotion and relegation system a la the English soccer system. That’ll never happen either, but I feel like that type of setup would work much better, letting a natural process ending up placing teams at their proper levels. 

Florida went to a population density factor.  That’s the difference maker.  
 

•The usual suspects are Independent schools (extremely low square mileage, many or all are just a handful and several that are less than a handful of square miles in terms of the size of their school district).

•College towns

•Metropolitan areas

•Private schools

Many schools fit into a couple of these criteria.

All of which, not necessarily my opinion, but it’s fact- has so much to do with PEOPLE. 

 

I would listen if the schools that would propose this idea can give an explanation on why other schools are successful with the same/higher percentage of their students on the lunch program. 

I can't view it as the reason for a programs downfall when others are thriving with the same criteria. 

Why is Pikeville in 1A when they have over 500 students?

1 hour ago, TheBearsFavoriteHat said:

I would listen if the schools that would propose this idea can give an explanation on why other schools are successful with the same/higher percentage of their students on the lunch program. 

I can't view it as the reason for a programs downfall when others are thriving with the same criteria. 

I imagine it is a contributing factor for some, but I tend to agree, it isn't the reason. 

From looking at the teams featured in the original post, this is what sticks out to me in terms of those teams:

-Boone County is significantly higher in FARL-eligible students than the other schools.  I'd be interested if there is any correlation across the state in counties that have multiple schools in their system where one school is disproportionately higher than their surrounding peers.  Especially because I believe those areas have a tendency to see students move around to other schools within the system.

-Several of the schools that are very high in FARL-eligible that made the state finals are also independent schools with a heavy traditional base.  I can't speak for the other schools, but being a close observer of Bowling Green, they receive great support from a very strong alumni base, so while many of their students are poor, the program and the school itself would not meet that definition at all.  Of course, there's really no proper way to track that and quantify that in terms of classifying teams. 

-Frederick Douglass is the only one with a high FARL-eligible population that is relatively new.  And from what I've gathered on here, they were essentially designed by their school system to be successful at football. 

So it is certainly possible to overcome a situation where many of your students are impoverished.  But other points of data can probably help explain why some overcome and some don't.  And that's before you even touch on things such as coaching, facilities, and the other things that help make teams elite.  Many teams have the talent in place to truly succeed, but only a certain few take that and really run with it.

4 hours ago, snakesnot_2000 said:

Why is Pikeville in 1A when they have over 500 students?

Doesn't thev classifying system only count the number of boys? Maybe they have a high percentage of female students. 

No. I say this a growing up dirt poor. The last thing I would want is to have my school grouped like that. It’s hard enough perception wise when the teams you play dress in blazers on the way to games. 
Just work harder. Use it as motivation, not an excuse. Boone Co, not everyone gets a trophy. 

For the podcast episode attached, we had this for a tough topic from Donald Mac Yocum. Elden May had shared some similar findings with me a year earlier. 

Population Density and Resources (both factors for old city school football which was hugely successful) are significant predictors for success on the football field. 

This was an area that Chuck and I had not dealt with before. When we got to the end, we had to admit there was legitimacy to this school of thought. 

Now, what to do with it?? That is at a whole other level. 

But, classification based solely on the number of males may not be the best route going forward. 

 

https://www.spreaker.com/user/frankfortbroadcast/the-coaches-office-16

7 hours ago, TheBearsFavoriteHat said:

I would listen if the schools that would propose this idea can give an explanation on why other schools are successful with the same/higher percentage of their students on the lunch program. 

I can't view it as the reason for a programs downfall when others are thriving with the same criteria. 

This!