11/12/26 – KHSAA Board of Control Addresses Realignment Requests, Considers Three-Class Soccer Trial

November 12, 2026 2026-2027 News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – November 12, 2026

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) Board of Control conducted its third regularly scheduled meeting of the 2026-27 academic year on Thursday, addressing numerous topics affecting member schools and student-athletes across the Commonwealth.

Among the items discussed were district and regional realignment requests, a possible three-class system for soccer, potential changes to the state golf tournament format, lacrosse mercy-rule recommendations, wrestling alignment adjustments and legislative matters concerning homeschool participation.

The Board heard several requests concerning district and regional alignment during its public comment session.

Representatives from Cornerstone Christian, Gallatin County and Collins addressed the Board regarding potential realignment of the 29th District. The Board’s February 2026 action remains unchanged, and Cornerstone Christian will remain in the 30th District. The 29th District will also remain unchanged.

The Board revisited a request originally presented during its September meeting in which Buckhorn sought to move from the 54th District to the 55th District, with Cordia moving from the 53rd District to the 54th District to provide better balance within the region. Wolfe County and Cordia expressed opposition to the proposal, citing increased travel distances and costs. Cordia also raised concerns about the management of athletics within the Knott County school district if that request was approved. The Board voted to deny Buckhorn’s realignment request at this time and directed the schools involved to continue discussions regarding potential collaborative solutions. These considerations could include regional tournament adjustments to help alleviate concerns about the imbalance in the number of teams in each district.

Floyd County reiterated its request that Lawrence County be removed from the 58th District, citing travel concerns related to accessing Lawrence County via the 57th District. The Board voted to deny Floyd County’s request and directed the schools involved to continue discussions regarding possible collaborative options.

The Board gave tentative approval to Trinity Whitesville’s realignment request. The proposal will be distributed to member schools for feedback, with final consideration scheduled for the Board’s January meeting.

Fort Knox High School requested a move from the 5th Region to the 6th Region, citing logistical changes associated with the military installation. Meade County requested a move from the basketball 3rd Region to the 5th Region, citing its location as the only 3rd Region school in the Eastern Time Zone and other logistical issues. The Board granted tentative approval of both requests, directing KHSAA staff to distribute the proposal to member schools for feedback before final consideration in January.

By a vote of 9-5, the Board directed staff to develop possible parameters for a three-class soccer system to be implemented on a three-year trial basis, to be further considered at its January meeting. The proposed structure will follow the enrollment-boundary blueprint used in track and field and cross-country. Additional details regarding classification, implementation and scheduling is to be presented to the Board in January.

A proposal to change the current format of the KHSAA state golf tournament was discussed. The Board did not approve the proposal during the meeting but will continue to review the data and results.

The Board recommended that proposed changes to the lacrosse mercy-rule provisions be distributed to member schools for feedback, with consideration of final adoption scheduled for January. These proposed changes would establish a game-ending provision when the scoring differential reaches the required threshold at or following the conclusion of the third quarter:

• Boys’ lacrosse: 20 goals or greater.

• Girls’ lacrosse: 18 goals or greater.

The Board deferred consideration of wrestling alignment adjustments to allow additional data to be collected at this year’s tournaments before the matter is presented at a future meeting. The change had been sought to attempt to balance the number of competitors in the regions.

The Board reaffirmed its position on legislative proposals to allow homeschool students to participate on KHSAA member-school teams. The Board stated that it respects the legislative process and will comply with any statutory changes approved and enacted into law. However, absent substantial changes to prior versions of the legislation, the Board does not support provisions that would allow homeschool students to participate on member school teams. The Board further indicated that it will not approve consideration of the issue through the KHSAA regulatory process, with its membership absent, unless statutory changes are made.

The Board recommended numerous amendments to Bylaws 6, 16 and 22 for consideration by the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) as they passed the Annual Meeting process. The proposed amendments will be submitted for incorporation by reference into 702 KAR 7:065 as part of the regulatory process.

In addition, the Board voted to submit two of the proposals that received at least 50% approval from the membership but fell short of the required ⅔ majority back to the membership for a referendum vote in December.

 

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 composed of 290 member schools, both public and non-public. The KHSAA crowns 74 team and 275 individual champions at 48 state championship events; funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its nearly 120,000 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.