SCHSL will alter classifications for next realignment. Here are the plans
The South Carolina High School League will stay at five classifications but won’t split its top class during its next realignment.
The league’s executive committee voted 13-4 Thursday to have five classifications for the 2026-28 realignment. The SCHSL goes through realignment every two years for competitive balance reasons.
The league has been at five classifications since 2016. But Class 5A, the state’s largest classification, split into two divisions for championships in all sports for the 2024-26 realignment.
It wasn’t recommended to do that this time around unless the 5A member schools ask for it. Any split would still have to be approved by the executive committee.
“Having four or five classifications break better” is an easier way to split things, committee member Harrison Goodwin said. “Also, you wouldn’t need two classes in 5A if Class A is bigger.”
In addition to approving a move for five classifications, it was recommended that realignment be built from the bottom up, meaning there would be more schools in Class A, the state’s smallest class.
In the last realignment, Class 5A had 54 schools, with Class A having 42. Class 4A had 41, 3A had 33 and 2A had 42. That breakdown created problems in some of the sports other than football, with classifications having to combine to create championships for such sports as soccer, wrestling and volleyball.
There were other alternatives besides the five-classification models brought up during Thursday’s meeting. There was discussion about going to three classes and then splitting each of them, essentially making for six total classes.
Committee member Matthew Hiers recommended going to four classifications, which had been the case for several years before the league went to five. That motion was rescinded.
With the number of classifications set, the realignment committee and the SCHSL can begin putting teams into classifications. Those discussions will begin in September with the final draft after appeals are sent out, usually sometime in January.
The multiplier, which counts a school’s out-of-district students as three, will again be used in the realignment process.
Other things voted on during Thursday’s meeting were:
>> The SCHSL executive committee voted 13-0 to accept Lake Wylie High School, located in the Clover School District, for membership beginning in 2026-27. The committee also voted 12-1 to grant hardship relief for Lake Wylie and allow the school to compete in playoffs in its first season. Usually, a new school has to wait one or two years to do that.
>> The executive committee voted in favor of Willie Jeffries School of Excellence, located in Orangeburg, requesting membership for middle school.
>> The SCHSL executive committee unanimously voted to add Legacy Early College, located in Greenville, to the league beginning in 2026. Legacy is ineligible for championships in its first year, but will be able to compete after that. Legacy had been in the NIKE Elite League for basketball but won’t be a part of that anymore. Legacy doesn’t offer several sports, including football.
This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 6:25 PM with the headline "SCHSL will alter classifications for next realignment. Here are the plans."
