04/15/26- Football Draft Realignment for 2027 through 2028 seasons Released

April 15, 2026 Football Blog Updates

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Football Alignment Update and Opportunity to Withdraw from District or Provide Feedback
 
TO: Superintendents, Principals, Athletic Directors and Designated Representatives of Football Playing Schools
 
FR: Commissioner Julian Tackett
 
RE: Update on the Drafting of 2027 and 2028 Football Alignment, Opportunity to Withdraw From District Play or Make Other Notes for Consideration
 
At a special meeting on April 15, 2026, the KHSAA Board of Control discussed and confirmed the parameters surrounding an alignment of teams in football for the 2025 and 2026 playing seasons. This communication is solely about classification and geographic alignment development. The needed information was received from the KDE around the mid part of January, and has been formatted in accordance with the Board’s approved process. Information about the realignment, including drafting maps, is available online on the khsaa.org/football website, by selecting the “Football Alignment/Realignment Information” pull-down menu.

Your response to the linked form is due on or before 10 a.m. Monday, May 4, 2026.
 
The following decisions should be considered finalized within the drafting of the alignment for this classification period:
 
SCHEDULING MORATORIUM

• Please consider that there continues to be, for 2027 and beyond, a scheduling moratorium in place for weeks 3 through 11 of the scheduling calendar (page 4 of the document at https://khsaa.org/common_documents/handbook/2024-2025//2024-25%20Handbook-06-Corresponding%20Dates.pdf
• Until further notice and as noted prior, contracts signed for 2027 for those weeks will not be considered valid or enforceable. 
• Until the alignment is finalized, do not schedule contests in those weeks. 
• It is the intent of the Commissioner and Board of Control to complete this project not later than its May 5-6 meeting. 
• Once it is adopted as final, the remainder of the schedule for the 2027 season and beyond can be finalized.

RECLASSIFICATION RESPONSE FORM

• During this process, schools are asked for responses. 
• The first step is the Withdrawal/Comments form https://khsaa.org/fb139-2027-and-2028-football-reclassification-withdrawal-special-request-form/. 
• The form is used for schools desiring to withdraw from district play or making other reclassification project comments.
• There is no opportunity to request to play in a higher or lower class on this form.

ENROLLMENT FIGURES

• The enrollment figures used to divide the teams into classes are the average number of boys enrolled as reported on the KDE second-month report (growth factor membership) for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years. 
• Those enrollment/membership numbers are listed on the KHSAA website at the links on the realignment pull-down menu. 
• The enrollment/membership numbers are incremented by a multiplier of 1.35 for schools in the J1, M1 and R1 Fed Org School Type Codes.

ALIGNMENT DRAFTING PRINCIPLES

• The draft alignment for the classification shows the ranked average boys enrollment for both 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 numbers. 
• The highest 32 ranked enrollments are placed in 6A
• The bounds in Class 1A have been raised from 34 to 36 schools in an effort, at the request of many coaches, to minimize or eliminate forfeits in postseason play
• The remaining classes have 38 schools in the draft in 2A and 3A, and 39 schools in 4A and 5A.

COMMENTS

• The remainder of the response form may be used for comments or suggestions.
• If you are mentioning a geographic problem with the district, please be prepared to also include a remedy to that problem.
• Concerns about competitive ability or general competitive advantage or disadvantage are not prioritized.

COMMITMENT TO PLAYING IN THE DISTRICT AND WITHDRAWAL FROM THE DISTRICT

• Unless a school requests not to be placed in a district as part of this process (withdraws), each school will be placed in a district as part of the classification process. 
• The process to withdraw prior to the final alignment must be done via the response form that is part of this notice.
• Once placed in a district as part of the Board action:
  • A default forfeit fee of $1500 per game will exist if no additional contract is signed between the schools.
  • After being placed in a district, if a school withdraws from district competition at any point during the classification period, the school will be considered liable for the default forfeit fee, payable to each member school in the district, for each remaining required district game during the entire classification period, unless a mutual agreement is reached by all of the teams.
  • In addition, a school withdrawing from district play will be ineligible to compete in the postseason competition for the remainder of the classification period, and will not be eligible for postseason play again until the 2029 playing season following the next classification process.
  • Specific penalties will be determined by the Commissioner’s office for any school withdrawing from postseason play in any year after the draw for pairings is determined.
  • A school withdrawing from district play may continue to play regular season competition during the classification period but is not eligible for postseason competition.
• To withdraw from the district competition period for the 2027 and 2028 periods, representatives must complete the Playing up/Comment form as detailed above. 
• SCHOOLS DO NOT NEED TO RESPOND TO THE SURVEY IF THEY DO NOT NEED TO WITHDRAW FROM DISTRICT PLAY AND HAVE NO OTHER SPECIFIC REQUEST REGARDING ALIGNMENT.
• All form responses will be published on the KHSAA website on the realignment page.

COMPOSITION OF DISTRICTS AND FINAL ALIGNMENT PROCEDURE

• The Board of Control will consider a draft alignment of teams at its next meeting on May 5-6, 2026 meeting, following the receipt of any FB139 forms and drafting of any proposed geographic district changes by the Commissioner’s office. 

SCHEDULING GRID

• The scheduling grid will continue to be utilized for 2027 and 2028 and any potential (but not yet proposed) revisions will be adopted at the May meeting prior to the lifting of the scheduling moratorium.

Member schools and their administrations should contact Commissioner Julian Tackett (jtackett@khsaa.org) at the KHSAA if there are any questions and are asked to share their intent to appear at the May meeting in case these are logistical needs.

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