CIF Lets Old Eligibility Rules Stand : Preps: New open enrollment policy won’t mean easier transfers for athletes, at least for now.

High school athletes hoping to take advantage of the state’s new open enrollment policy will have plenty of stumbling blocks regarding eligibility.

The California Interscholastic Federation Council, which governs high school sports in the state, voted down a motion Friday that would have granted immediate athletic eligibility to any student who transfers to a school within his district.

By this July, all public school students in California will be allowed to transfer to schools within their district, space permitting. The new legislation has created havoc for the CIF, which has strict transfer rules.

In an attempt to comply with the new law, the CIF proposed granting immediate eligibility to intradistrict transfer students as long as the move was not for athletic purposes. After three hours of debate, however, most of the council members said the rule was too lenient and difficult to enforce. Many feared the shopping of athletes and building of all-star teams.

The Sac-Joquin Section, one of 10 sections in the CIF, proposed an amendment that would have allowed a student one open enrollment transfer during high school to maintain eligibility. That was also voted down.

Since the council does not meet again until October, sections must adopt their own policies to deal with open enrollment. Several sections, including the City Section, said they will probably maintain current rules.

The CIF usually only grants athletic eligibility to transfer students who have a change of residency or obtain a special permit.

“When I get back to the office Monday, I will send a letter to all of our schools informing them that the old rules still apply,” said Barbara Fiege, City Section commissioner. “I anticipate some angry calls from parents, but I think this is the best thing for the City. Instant eligibility could create a real problem.”

Dean Crowley, Southern Section commissioner, said he will propose a rule change to his Executive Committee next month. He will ask it to grant immediate eligibility to open enrollment transfer students as long as the move is made before the start of the school year and is not for disciplinary reasons.

By failing to adopt a statewide policy, however, the CIF council faces several potential problems. It risks lawsuits by parents who could claim it is not following state law. And by granting sections autonomy on the issue, it increases the difficulty of ever coming up with a uniform rule.

“I think everyone is going to find out that (state) legislation supersedes everything else,” said Andy Patterson, the CIF’s attorney. “If there are conflicts, legislation will win out.”

Thomas Byrnes, CIF commissioner, said this is the most difficult issue to face the state in many years, and he was not surprised by the heated debate. He is uncertain of the CIF’s next move.

“We may send it back to committee,” Byrnes said. “Or we might do something else. I don’t have many answers, but there are rules on our books that give our sections the right to deal with these matters on their own. So it is not a crisis yet.”