D.C. Does It Right: Private, Public Champions Square Off

A common debate in high school sports from state to state is how to classify public and private schools for athletics. Do you put them in different classes or leagues? Or play them together.

↵In Georgia, where I’ve covered high school sports for more than 10 years, it’s probably the most divisive issue for the state’s high school association, which lumps private and public schools together. The private schools are dominating their public rivals. There’s a proposal in Georgia now to have separate public and private championships in Class A, the smallest classification.

↵What Washington, D.C., has done for years is have a city championship between the public and private school champions. That will game will be played Monday at Verizon Center between DeMatha (private champ) and Roosevelt (public champ).

↵It works well because each is the champion of its league. I wish Georgia would do the same -- have a Class A public and private champion, then have the two play it off in the end.

↵But it’s not that simple in most states. In some, there aren’t enough private schools to justify classifying them differently. In others, the state high school associations are afraid of legal challenge if they separate public and private schools.

↵Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy Monday’s Roosevelt-DeMatha game. It’s expected that DeMatha will dominate, but both are champions in their own right.