11/07/23 – KHSAA Announces RefReps Partnership to Address Officials Shortage

November 7, 2023 2023-2024 News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NOV. 7, 2023

As part of a collective effort to address the shortage of licensed officials in Kentucky, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association has partnered with an officiating education company called RefReps, as announced on Tuesday.

RefReps provides a comprehensive sports officiating education curriculum for more than a dozen sports to provide a viable opportunity for schools to offer sports officiating education to students during their curricular day as an elective course.

“The KHSAA is excited to partner with RefReps as a strategy to help promote our mission to address the shortage of licensed officials across Kentucky,” said KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett. “As they have proven in other states and demonstrated throughout this adoption process, they will be invaluable. I am happy with the work that Associate Commissioner Butch Cope has done to help us work toward a shared goal of providing education content to help recruit new officials and therefore increase retention.”

At present, over 300 high schools and universities across 36 states are actively teaching Intro to Sports Officiating classes using RefReps’ highly engaging learning experience. This curriculum, along with an instructor from the staff, will alleviate the barriers to offering this course to high school students and provide immediate benefits to KHSAA member schools and sports communities.

RefReps offers informational webinars to outline the success that’s been achieved with partner schools thus far, as well as how a course offering as a stand-alone sports officiating class may fit into a pre-existing course already planned.

To register to attend one of two informational webinars hosted with RefReps on Monday, Nov. 13, at 9:45 a.m. ET or Monday, Nov. 20, at 11 a.m., click here.

– 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.