07/24/26 – Board of Control Conducts First Meeting of 2026-2027

July 24, 2026 2026-2027 News Releases

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JULY 24, 2026

The KHSAA Board of Control held its first regularly scheduled meeting of the 2026-27 academic year on Thursday and Friday in Newport, with much of the focus on carryover items from the prior year.  

A two-day series of meetings began with an orientation for new and returning Board members, then launched into the full Board work session on Thursday afternoon, followed by the full Board Meeting on Friday. The Board and staff welcomed new Board members, Troy Johnson of Fern Creek High School and Randy Borchers of the Kenton County schools. 

“The first meeting each year offers a great opportunity for our new board members to become familiar with the process of these meetings and with our staff members,” said Commissioner Julian Tackett. “The first meeting is always one of our longer ones as we try to set the tone for the coming year, get ready for proposals to be presented to our member schools in the annual meeting, revisions to other regulations that guide operations, and review the  focus points on the meetings for the rest of the year.” 

The Board continued its relentless review of the existing bylaws, focusing on transfer rules and recruiting restrictions. Recruiting and undue influence are major problems across many state associations nationwide. This is especially a concern right now in many states, where legislative or membership pressures to liberalize transfer rules must be coupled with tightening restrictions on recruiting and undue influence.

The KHSAA continues researching trends to provide the board with more information on potential changes to the bylaws. Another step in this review directed staff to finalize drafting several proposals to address membership concerns regarding Bylaw 6 and Bylaw 16. The proposals will be considered at the virtual meeting in August before being submitted to the membership for consideration at the KHSAA Annual Meeting on September 17 in Lexington.

The Board approved a recommendation to discontinue the sponsorship of a state field hockey championship after the 2026-27 tournament by a vote of 10-6, with one abstention and one member absent. Any championship must meet a 10% minimum membership requirement to be considered sanctioned, and despite everyone’s best efforts, participation remains at 19 schools, or slightly less than 7%.  

The Track and Field alignment has two adjustments from the distributed draft: Grayson County’s requested move to Region 2 in Class 3A, and Fern Creek’s move to Region 3 in Class 3A. The alignment, as amended, was then approved for the 2026 Cross Country and Track & Field seasons.

In addition to these items:

• The Board was given an update on the future of the KHSAA scoreboard with its partnership with ArbiterSports. The new website (www.khsaascoreboard.org) will be mobile-friendly and will be publicly displayed in the near future.
• As required by 702 KAR 7:065, the board conducted its required annual evaluation of the Commissioner. The Board’s evaluation was extremely favorable, and the Executive Committee is to finalize a continued employment agreement. 
• Approved a four-year contract for its General Counsel, Chad Collins, to be executive by the Executive Committee.
• Reviewed and approved draft policy revisions on Sports Sponsorship Requirements, New member school candidacy provisions, alignment and realignment policies.
• Approved prior considered proposed amendments to Bylaw 11 and Bylaw 22 to be submitted to the membership.

 

– KHSAA – 

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association 

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 290 member schools, both public and non-public. The KHSAA awards 229 state championships to 59 teams and 178 individuals in 13 sports and six sport-activities, funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its more than 109,000 rostered member school student-athletes, provides coaching education and sports safety programs for more than 12,000 coaches and licenses and facilitates the distribution of training material for over 4,000 contest officials.

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