BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
FOR THE OBSERVER
MONTGOMERY — Massive changes are coming to high school athletics after the Alabama High School Athletic Association approved a new classification system for championship play on Jan. 23.
That system, which will debut during the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years, creates six public school classifications and two private school classifications.
It is the first major overhaul of Alabama high school athletics since the AHSAA introduced the seven-class system beginning with the 2014-15 school year.
The reorganization intends to create more championship opportunities and simplify a confusing reclassification system that used multipliers and competitive balance factors to govern private schools according to AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon.
“The landscape of education-based athletics in Alabama is changing, and the AHSAA must continue to adapt,” Harmon said in a press release. “After careful review — and after listening to our public and private school members — the Central Board [of Control] determined that now is an appropriate time to restructure championship play, resulting in restructured championships for public and private schools.”
The 2026-27 and 2027-28 classification breakdown features 32 6A teams, 64 5A teams, 66 4A teams, 66 3A teams, 65 2A teams, 69 1A teams, 17 Private Class 2A teams and 43 Private Class 1A teams.
After transferring 60 private school teams from the AHSAA’s traditional classification structure, the CBOC voted to disband Class 7A.
Classifications are determined every two years and based on average daily membership figures provided by the State Department of Education. Member private schools report that same data directly to the AHSAA.
Based on those enrollments, Lee-Scott Academy and Glenwood School will be transferred from Class 3A to Private Class 2A, two years after leaving the Alabama Independent School Association for the AHSAA in 2024.
Documents released last Friday show LSA will be the fifth-smallest school in the classification, while GS will be the smallest with enrollments of 207 and 191 students, respectively.
Those same records show that the area’s two private schools will compete against programs including McGill-Toolen Catholic, Briarwood Christian and Faith Academy, which have enrollments that are at least twice as large as either LSA or Glenwood School.
Glenwood will be placed in Region 1, which includes Houston Academy, Montgomery Catholic, St. Michael Catholic, St. Paul’s Episcopal, UMS-Wright Preparatory, Faith Academy and McGill-Toolen Catholic.
LSA will be placed in Region 2, which includes American Christian Academy, John Carroll Catholic, Madison Academy, Randolph School, St. John Paul II Catholic, Westminster Christian Academy and BC.
Currently, LSA and Glenwood compete in 3A Region 4, which has an average travel distance of 51 minutes between campuses for the Warriors and an hour and six minutes for the Gators.
Now, on average, LSA must travel two hours and 51 minutes, and Glenwood must travel three hours and five minutes for away games.
While both teams will play a mixture of home and away games within their regions, the changes highlight the increased travel burden the two teams will face.
No other private schools in Lee or Chambers County are currently affected by this decision.
At the public school level, the changes are equally as noticeable.
As the area’s largest schools, Auburn High School, Opelika High School and Smiths Station High School will return to Class 6A from Class 7A.
Those schools will play in 6A Region 2, which includes Carver High School, Central High School, Dothan High School, Enterprise High School and Johnson Abernathy Graetz High School. That new region is identical to the 7A Region 2 the Tigers, Bulldogs and Panthers currently play in.
Other schools dropping classifications include Beauregard High School and Valley High School from Class 5A to Class 4A and LaFayette High School and Loachapoka High School from Class 2A to Class 1A.
Beauregard and Valley will compete in 4A Region 4, which includes Charles Henderson High School, Elmore County High School, Greenville High School, Holtville High School, Marbury High School and Tallassee High School.
LaFayette and Loachapoka will compete in 1A Region 6, which includes Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School, Fayetteville High School, Notasulga High School, Wadley High School, Winterboro High School and Woodland High School.
Beulah High School will remain in Class 3A, and Lanett High School will remain in Class 2A.
Beulah will compete in 3A Region 2, which includes Booker T. Washington High School, Bullock County High School, Daleville High School, Geneva High School, Pike County High School, Slocomb High School and Wicksburg High School.
Lanett will compete in 2A Region 4, which includes B.B. Comer High School, Central Coosa High School, Dadeville High School, Horseshoe Bend High School, Ranburne High School, Randolph County High School and Reeltown High School.
Private schools will still be able to compete against public schools despite being transferred to these new classifications.
Competitive changes
While most sports’ alignments are for six public school classes and two private school classes, others are expected to experience different realignments based on the number of schools participating in each sport during the 2026-27 school year.
Most notably, girls’ flag football will expand from two open divisions to three public school divisions and one private school division.
Additionally, swimming and diving will expand from two open divisions to two public school divisions and one private school division, and cross country will reshuffle from six divisions to five public school divisions and one private school division.
Winter and spring sports’ alignments will be determined once those seasons officially end.
Since the realignment mostly affects larger schools, the Central Board of Control is also studying small changes that include letting more Class 6A teams advance to the state football playoffs and creating a sub-regional round for the state volleyball playoffs.
“Through multiple meetings with our private school members, they expressed a desire for greater financial flexibility,” Harmon said. “This model directly addresses those concerns while maintaining fair play for all. Because postseason competition will follow restructured pathways, we are now able toward removing financial barriers for private school eligibility.”
Reason for realignment
The driving force behind the decision to completely separate private and public schools was the passage of the Creating Hope and Opportunity for Our Students’ Education Act of 2024, or CHOOSE Act.
The CHOOSE Act created thousands of dollars worth of refundable income tax credits for K-12 students living in households that make less than $96,450 per year.
According to data from the Alabama Department of Revenue, the program was instantly successful, with the state awarding around $100 million for the 2025-26 school year.
However, a noticeable trend emerged as the state began tracking that data: of the roughly 5,000 public school students who applied for the program, more than 3,100 applied to use that funding at eligible private schools.
While less than half of those applicants have activated their accounts since then, those figures show around 62% of beneficiaries are choosing to use their funds at private schools.
That is in addition to the 9,600 eligible students who were already enrolled in private schools and currently using funding from the program.
Readers interested in learning more about the realignment can visit www.ahsaa.com/Schools/2026-2028-Classification-Alignments for additional information.
