Georgia House Bill 251 and GHSA Eligibility

Questions have arisen from administrators and coaches at member schools and from the general public concerning House Bill 251 that was signed into law by Governor Sonny Perdue recently.

When House Bill 251 was being formulated, an aide from Representative Alisha Morgan’s office engaged the GHSA Executive Director in discussions about the GHSA transfer eligibility rules and the appeal process that is available. Throughout the discussions, there was never any indication that this legislation would circumvent existing GHSA eligibility rules. During the discussions of this bill in committee hearings, it was stated that GHSA transfer eligibility rules were not affected by this piece of legislation.

A student who uses the provisions of this legislation to transfer from one GHSA school to another GHSA school after having begun the ninth grade will be considered a “migrant student”. This means that the student may practice and may compete on the sub-varsity level, but may not compete in the varsity level for one calendar year after transferring to the new school.

Hardship appeal procedures are in place when the transfer under this law was done for reasons that mean the GHSA constitutional definition of a “hardship”. This is the same procedure that is in place for transfers that occur under the federal “No Child Left Behind” legislation.