Suburban League administrators seek split of OHSAA state tournaments

A petition led by administrators in the Suburban League could significantly change the landscape of future Ohio High School Athletic Association state tournaments.

A group of superintendents, principals and athletic directors in the Suburban League have organized a petition and are seeking a vote on whether the OHSAA should have separate public and private high school state tournaments.

The petition is circulating around the state, and the organizers have a December deadline to gather enough support in order to have a referendum item placed on the May 2027 ballot for high school principals.

Only high school principals can sign the petition. If organizers receive 75 signatures, including at least five from each of the six OHSAA districts, a petition would be placed on the May 2027 ballot for a vote from the full membership.

If a referendum passed in May, separate state tournaments could be implemented during the 2028-29 school year.

The issue was discussed at an OHSAA regional administrator update meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8, at Streetsboro High School and on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at Princeton High School. These were the final two of six meetings to start the school year the OHSAA organized with administrators around the state.

There have been conversations over the years among OHSAA member schools about the potential separation of public and private high schools.

Petitions to separate state tournaments also took place in 1978 and 1993, but OHSAA member schools voted down each attempt.

Discussions to have separate state tournaments also took place in the late 2000s, leading to the formation of a competitive balance committee in 2010.

OHSAA member schools approved competitive balance in May 2014 and it was implemented ahead of the 2017-18 school year. OHSAA still uses it for the placement of schools into tournament divisions in the team sports of baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball and volleyball. The modifications are based on which students are on a respective roster by sport at a high school.

The OHSAA's annual referendum voting period is from May 1-15 each year. Each member school has one vote to cast by the high school principal on each referendum issue on a ballot.

OHSAA Constitution Article 8-1-9 requires every member high school to submit a ballot.

OHSAA member schools passed 11 of 12 proposed revisions to the OHSAA Constitution and Bylaws in May 2026.

"At this point in time, we are going through the process as laid out by the OHSAA and their constitution and bylaws," Nordonia athletic director Rob Eckenrode said in a telephone conversation with the Beacon Journal on Tuesday, Sept. 15. "We have the referendum item ready to go, and as the bylaws call for we are soliciting signatures to get it on the ballot and see where it goes from there.

"… I think the item speaks for itself and we will see if we are able to secure the necessary number of signatures and then it would go up for a vote. Then it would be left up to all the schools in the state of Ohio to vote on it."

Eckenrode is in his 21styear as Nordonia's athletic director. He previously was an athletic director at Grafton Midview for four years and at Sullivan Black River for two years.

"We have a committee made up of athletic directors, principals and superintendents that have explored the possibility and have had multiple discussions about this and have met with the OHSAA to prepare the referendum item," Eckenrode said.

When asked if all 16 Suburban League schools have been involved in the petition, Eckenrode said: "Everyone is involved with the exception of Wadsworth. Wadsworth has specifically asked to not be included in the petition, in the referendum item and the process. I respect the folks at Wadsworth as a league member and they did not want to have their school's name associated with this."

The OHSAA is a voluntary, unincorporated and nonprofit membership organization that regulates interscholastic athletic competition for its member schools, consisting of 812 high schools (grades 9-12) and 741 seventh and eighth grade schools.

At the high school level, there are 691 public schools and 121 private schools competing in the OHSAA.

Other states with separate public and private state tournaments, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), are Alabama, Maryland, Texas and Virginia.

With 347,994 high school student-athletes during the 2025-26 school year, Ohio ranked as the third-largest state for high school sports participation in the annual NFHS' Athletics Participation Survey, trailing only Texas (911,405) and California (859,022).

Following Ohio to round the top eight were Illinois (326,756), Pennsylvania (315,647), New York (312,563), Florida (311,233) and Michigan (295,634).

Akron Beacon Journal sports writer Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ .

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