Conklin’s PIAA playoff reform bill advances from committee to full House
Would allow PIAA to create separate playoffs, championships for public and private schools
Conklin May 12, 2025 | 1:18 PM
HARRISBURG, May 12 – In a move to level the playing field for Pennsylvania’s public school athletes, the Pennsylvania House Intergovernmental Affairs and Operations Committee today approved state Rep. Scott Conklin’s bill that would allow the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association to create separate playoffs and championships for boundary and non-boundary schools.
Conklin, D-Centre, said he introduced H.B. 41 because reforming the current PIAA playoff system – which jeopardizes the health and safety of public school athletes – is an urgent priority.
“The current system isn’t just putting public school athletes at a disadvantage, it’s endangering their health and safety,” Conklin said. “It’s forcing students from public schools, which must recruit from within district boundaries, to compete against students from private schools, which can recruit from anywhere and amass teams that are larger and stronger.
“The system is also depriving public school students of scholarship and recruitment opportunities and teaching them the wrong lessons. K-12 sports are supposed to be about building confidence and reinforcing concepts of fair play and good sportsmanship. We can’t be doing that with a system that puts some students on an unlevel playing field before they even walk out onto the field.”
Conklin emphasized that his bill – which now heads to the full House for consideration – would not be a mandate but would simply clear the way for PIAA officials to implement needed change.
“PIAA officials’ hands have been tied because of a decades-old requirement that prohibits them from updating the playoff system. My bill would clear the way and allow the PIAA to level the playing field once and for all for students.”