Midwestern State Football Stadium

[LSC Fan]

Its the wild west for private schools. They can offer scholarships, pay the players, you name it. No rules.

[Techster88]

A taxpayer should get a voucher for 100% of the Federal dollars going to his state pro-rated by the number of students in the state. The parent should then decide what school to take the money to......public, charter, or private. The local pubic schools still get 100% of local school taxes.

In fact, I would go further. I would abolish the Dept of Education and it's huge bureaucracy and give 100% of federal educational dollars directly to parents (I can't say tax paying parents since the bottom 50% of taxpayers pay only 3% of all federal income tax) in the form of a voucher for the school of their choice.

I bet I could get elected President of this country with that education platform. The biggest beneficiaries of that would accrue to those on the lowest economic scale. Give the poor a chance to go to a better school. Spending more and more money on our public schools and getting less and less is a cycle that only competition will shake up.

In an aside, my grandson attends K-4 private at Brentwood Christian School in Austin. He will attend their K-5 this fall. Brentwood offers K-4 through K-12 classes. The admissions director told my daughter that applications for fall '22 increased 400% from the previous year. Our daughter and husband recently toyed with the idea of relocating to Dallas this summer. They took our grandson to 4 private Dallas schools for the application and interview process. Each of those schools told her the same story.......applications for 2022 were through the roof! The average tuition at those schools is in the $25,000/year range (before scholarships based on need). Our grandson's other grandparents are very well off and are paying the private school freight, not me. Ha!

I think the public school model (now completely controlled by the public teacher's unions) is broken and outdated. It's time for a new educational pathway based on freedom. "Give me my money and let me choose where my kid gets educated."

And I don't see much difference between private school scholarships and the "recruiting" that goes on in the public high schools.

[ASUPops]

I actually agree with this but not only Catholic any private school. Seems I remember a school out of Shreveport Evangel putting it on Lufkin when they were highly ranked. Lufkin coaches were upset and said they would play them anymore. Not sure what happened.

UIL should not allow these mercenary teams to compete for state titles.

11 of the top 20 (in bold) are Catholic schools.

2021 FINAL NATIONAL RANKINGS

No. 1 Mater Dei (California)

(12-0)

1

No. 2 Westlake (Austin, Texas)

(16-0)



No. 3 Bergen Catholic (New Jersey)

(12-0)



No. 4 North Shore (Texas)

(15-1)



No. 5 Jesuit (Florida)

(14-0)



No. 6 St. Thomas Aquinas (Florida)

(14-1)



No. 7 Servite (California)

(10-3)



No. 8 St. John Bosco (California)

(10-2)



No. 9 Duncanville (Texas)

(13-2)



No. 10 Oakland (Tennessee)

(15-0)



No. 11 Center Grove (Indiana)

(14-0)



No. 12 St. Frances Academy (Maryland)

(8-1)



No. 13 IMG Academy (Florida)

(9-1)



No. 14 Thompson (Alabama)

(13-1)



No. 15 Bishop Gorman (Nevada)

(12-1)



No. 16 Miami Central (Florida)

(12-2)



No. 17 St. Edward (Ohio)

(15-1)



No. 18 Chaminade-Madonna (Florida)

(12-1)



No. 19 St. John's College HS (Washington, DC)

(11-0)



No. 20 Corona Centennial (California)

(11-1)

[ASUPops]

Its the wild west for private schools. They can offer scholarships, pay the players, you name it. No rules.

Lol. Scholarships yes. Pay the players? NO. They STILL have rules and if caught ALL games would be forfeited.

Like AF said.....public schools recruit. Look at any Texas powerhouse. Kids move from ALL OVER THE US to play for these teams to better their college offers.

Heck, I moved to Allen in '05 for football. They have 4 freshman teams and all kids play. So, if a kid has talent, they wont get missed. Other 6A schools have one, and if your kid isn't a starter, he will never get seen. Thats why Allen's program is awesome. It's not the # of players, it's that all of them get equal playing time and get opportunities.

[Wildcat Khan]

Lol. Scholarships yes. Pay the players? NO. They STILL have rules and if caught ALL games would be forfeited.

Like AF said.....public schools recruit. Look at any Texas powerhouse. Kids move from ALL OVER THE US to play for these teams to better their college offers.

Heck, I moved to Allen in '05 for football. They have 4 freshman teams and all kids play. So, if a kid has talent, they wont get missed. Other 6A schools have one, and if your kid isn't a starter, he will never get seen. Thats why Allen's program is awesome. It's not the # of players, it's that all of them get equal playing time and get opportunities.

There was a public school in Washington that found a way to compete by tweaking district lines to get the best players in their portion of Seattle, but they ended up with a 4-year playoff ban. They were constantly in the running for the state title.

[LSC Fan]

There was a public school in Washington that found a way to compete by tweaking district lines to get the best players in their portion of Seattle, but they ended up with a 4-year playoff ban. They were constantly in the running for the state title.

There are some school districts in Texas who have done the same with attendance boundaries. There is particular burb in the Houston area who used to be a one or two high school district until the late 90's and into the 2000's when it boomed to now a 10 high school district. The original high school pretty much takes in the city limits of the city where as most of the other schools take in portions of the city, but mainly serve the rest of the area around it that used to rural and now are suburbs of their own, but don't have their own school systems. As outsiders looking in and actually confirmed by people who live in other attendance zones in the ISD, it was apparent for years the ISD and administration favored the original high school because it was the one who wore the town's name and legacy and had the state hardware in multiple sports including football to display. Sure one of the other schools would accomplish something like one did this last year and won state in Class 5A. But the support at Jerryworld for that team was paper thin, partially due to it being a new school. It got so bad a few years ago when they were proposing to build a multimillion dollar additional stadium and the board wanted to put on the campus of the namesake high school, the rest of the ISD finally called them on it and voted down the bonds. A high school friend of mine was one of the more vocal leaders against it, so I saw the back and forth on FB. They got it built eventually, but next to the what was their primary ISD stadium a few miles away. It was fun to read all the back and forth back then for sure!

The other thing some have done ( and continue to do) is offer jobs to parents who coincidently have well know athletically inclined kids in their family who currently play or are going to be at the high school level soon. It's not uncommon to see a Tweet this time of year as contracts for next school year come due saying Coach Blank has accepted an assistants job or a HC job for another sport at where ever ISD. Or even a non athletic job. And there goes one school's key players to another one and their is almost nothing the UIL can do about it because the job and move is acceptable reasons to transfer.

[texcap]

A taxpayer should get a voucher for 100% of the Federal dollars going to his state pro-rated by the number of students in the state. The parent should then decide what school to take the money to......public, charter, or private. The local pubic schools still get 100% of local school taxes.

In fact, I would go further. I would abolish the Dept of Education and it's huge bureaucracy and give 100% of federal educational dollars directly to parents (I can't say tax paying parents since the bottom 50% of taxpayers pay only 3% of all federal income tax) in the form of a voucher for the school of their choice.

I bet I could get elected President of this country with that education platform. The biggest beneficiaries of that would accrue to those on the lowest economic scale. Give the poor a chance to go to a better school. Spending more and more money on our public schools and getting less and less is a cycle that only competition will shake up.

In an aside, my grandson attends K-4 private at Brentwood Christian School in Austin. He will attend their K-5 this fall. Brentwood offers K-4 through K-12 classes. The admissions director told my daughter that applications for fall '22 increased 400% from the previous year. Our daughter and husband recently toyed with the idea of relocating to Dallas this summer. They took our grandson to 4 private Dallas schools for the application and interview process. Each of those schools told her the same story.......applications for 2022 were through the roof! The average tuition at those schools is in the $25,000/year range (before scholarships based on need). Our grandson's other grandparents are very well off and are paying the private school freight, not me. Ha!

I think the public school model (now completely controlled by the public teacher's unions) is broken and outdated. It's time for a new educational pathway based on freedom. "Give me my money and let me choose where my kid gets educated."

And I don't see much difference between private school scholarships and the "recruiting" that goes on in the public high schools.

That might be true in some states, heck possibly the majority of states, but I don't think public teacher's unions have very much, if any, input into control of the public schools in Texas.

Public schools in Texas are controlled very much by two forces: 1) Texas Education Agency (TEA) which is run by a governor appointed commissioner and a publicly elected state board of education; and 2) locally elected school boards and board appointed superintendants.

Politics, of both the state and local variety, (mainly very conservative except for the more liberal urban areas) control Texas public schools.

[ASUPops]

That might be true in some states, heck possibly the majority of states, but I don't think public teacher's unions have very much, if any, input into control of the public schools in Texas.

Public schools in Texas are controlled very much by two forces: 1) Texas Education Agency (TEA) which is run by a governor appointed commissioner and a publicly elected state board of education; and 2) locally elected school boards and board appointed superintendants.

Politics, of both the state and local variety, (mainly very conservative except for the more liberal urban areas) control Texas public schools.

They control ALL public education.

[Techster88]

There are some school districts in Texas who have done the same with attendance boundaries. There is particular burb in the Houston area who used to be a one or two high school district until the late 90's and into the 2000's when it boomed to now a 10 high school district. The original high school pretty much takes in the city limits of the city where as most of the other schools take in portions of the city, but mainly serve the rest of the area around it that used to rural and now are suburbs of their own, but don't have their own school systems. As outsiders looking in and actually confirmed by people who live in other attendance zones in the ISD, it was apparent for years the ISD and administration favored the original high school because it was the one who wore the town's name and legacy and had the state hardware in multiple sports including football to display. Sure one of the other schools would accomplish something like one did this last year and won state in Class 5A. But the support at Jerryworld for that team was paper thin, partially due to it being a new school. It got so bad a few years ago when they were proposing to build a multimillion dollar additional stadium and the board wanted to put on the campus of the namesake high school, the rest of the ISD finally called them on it and voted down the bonds. A high school friend of mine was one of the more vocal leaders against it, so I saw the back and forth on FB. They got it built eventually, but next to the what was their primary ISD stadium a few miles away. It was fun to read all the back and forth back then for sure!

The other thing some have done ( and continue to do) is offer jobs to parents who coincidently have well know athletically inclined kids in their family who currently play or are going to be at the high school level soon. It's not uncommon to see a Tweet this time of year as contracts for next school year come due saying Coach Blank has accepted an assistants job or a HC job for another sport at where ever ISD. Or even a non athletic job. And there goes one school's key players to another one and their is almost nothing the UIL can do about it because the job and move is acceptable reasons to transfer.

[AngeloFan]

I remember when Odessa Texas boundary lines looked like a gerrymandered congressional district. The Permian district went to within two blocks of Odessa High. Permian won several state titles back then.

Things were so bad up there that one year the school board sued the UIL to have Permian put in the playoffs instead of Odessa High. District judge ruled for Permian (his son played for the El Paso team Permian played in bi-district).

Permian won bi-district and they lost the lawsuit on appeal. Judge's son's team got to play another game

[Techster88]

I remember when Odessa Texas boundary lines looked like a gerrymandered congressional district. The Permian district went to within two blocks of Odessa High. Permian won several state titles back then.

Things were so bad up there that one year the school board sued the UIL to have Permian put in the playoffs instead of Odessa High. District judge ruled for Permian (his son played for the El Paso team Permian played in bi-district).

Permian won bi-district and they lost the lawsuit on appeal. Judge's son's team got to play another game

[Buffalo/Islander Alum]

Yeah I completely agree on the division 1 and division 2 crap within districts but its needed in 6A because you have schools like Allen that refuse to split up into several schools and has a higher enrollment than some LSC schools. I wonder how strong Plano would be if they didnt separate into different high schools in 2000.

Also good to see that El Paso schools are mostly bye games in the bi-district football round. I remember when their top team in 2005 or 2006 went 10-0 and they were touted as the real deal legit team to ever come out of El Paso. Tascosa finished 4th place in their district and destroyed them something like 34-13 or something like that in the 1st round.

[LSC Fan]

Yeah I completely agree on the division 1 and division 2 crap within districts but its needed in 6A because you have schools like Allen that refuse to split up into several schools and has a higher enrollment than some LSC schools. I wonder how strong Plano would be if they didnt separate into different high schools in 2000.

Also good to see that El Paso schools are mostly bye games in the bi-district football round. I remember when their top team in 2005 or 2006 went 10-0 and they were touted as the real deal legit team to ever come out of El Paso. Tascosa finished 4th place in their district and destroyed them something like 34-13 or something like that in the 1st round.

My preference would be to add a 7A and ditch the two tier championships in each division. You still have some wild enrollment gaps when playoff come around, especially in the lower classes. One projection form Matt Stepp I saw would create a new class that would take enrollment over 2700 and put them in a 7A and reshuffle the set up on down. The new 5A would be a good mix of of now higher 4A and lower 5A schools. Reading and listening to some of the chatter from some in the know think this might be on the table in 2026 and the growth in the state is going to force it.

https://www.texasfootball.com/articl..._preview_title

[ASUPops]

My preference would be to add a 7A and ditch the two tier championships in each division. You still have some wild enrollment gaps when playoff come around, especially in the lower classes. One projection form Matt Stepp I saw would create a new class that would take enrollment over 2700 and put them in a 7A and reshuffle the set up on down. The new 5A would be a good mix of of now higher 4A and lower 5A schools. Reading and listening to some of the chatter from some in the know think this might be on the table in 2026 and the growth in the state is going to force it.

https://www.texasfootball.com/articl..._preview_title

Could always shift schools with lower enrollment down.

Make 6A a SUPER DIVISION for all the biggest schools only. Then 5A back to what it was before 6A was created.....so on and so forth. Simple, easy and cost effective.

[ctrabs74]

Yeah I completely agree on the division 1 and division 2 crap within districts but its needed in 6A because you have schools like Allen that refuse to split up into several schools and has a higher enrollment than some LSC schools. I wonder how strong Plano would be if they didnt separate into different high schools in 2000.

Then, you have Frisco ISD, which is slated to open their 12th high school (FISD had one high school until 2002), Panther Creek. Frisco Panther Creek will compete in 4A-1 District 7 (along with "Carrollton" Ranchview*, Celina and four Dallas ISD schools - Carter, Hutchins, North Dallas and Pinkston); the other FISD schools are all 5A - which apparently is by design per the FISD school board - 5A-1 District 6 features Frisco, Centennial, Heritage, Lebanon Trail, Lone Star, Reedy and Wakeland along with Sherman; 5A-2 District 3 features Frisco Emerson (which opened last season), Independence and Memorial in the same district as perennial State contender Argyle (which will move up from 4A next season), Carrollton Creekview**, Denton and Lake Dallas. Frisco ISD might be the North Texas equivalent to Katy ISD in that regard (except that all Katy ISD schools are 6A).

* - Despite being referred to as "Carrollton Ranchview High School" as part of the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, Carrollton Ranchview is actually within Irving city limits and also covers portions of Coppell and Irving (specifically Las Colinas and Valley Ranch in the northern part of the city) in addition to the namesake city of Farmers Branch (west of 35E). Oddly enough, parts of Northwestern Irving are actually zoned to Coppell ISD. (Trying to explain Texas ISD boundaries to an non-Texas is a massive beating - see "Richardson Lake Highlands" being part of Richardson ISD but within Dallas city limits.)
** - Carrollton Creekview is actually located within Carrollton city limits, but on the Denton County side of Carrollton (aka "North Carrollton"), despite other parts of "North Carrollton" being zoned to Lewisville Hebron - yes, as in the Lewisville ISD, which is another rabbit hole that I don't feel like going down at the moment - which is located within Carrollton city limits on the Denton County side.

Also, as a point of reference, Plano ISD high schools house juniors and seniors and are designated as "senior high schools" while freshmen and sophomores attend one of two "high schools" which feed into the senior high schools. You basically have three 9-12 high schools which are spread technically speaking out among nine campuses.

Speaking of Lewisville ISD (okay, I lied about not going down that rabbit hole, but I'm on a roll right now), Lewisville High School's juniors and seniors are housed at the Main Street campus, while freshmen and sophomores are housed at one of two "ninth grade centers" - Killough (north side of Lewisville) or Harmon (south side of Lewisville). Hebron, Flower Mound and Marcus High Schools have freshman centers on campus with their respective main high schools, while The Colony High School (the lone 5A school in LISD) houses grades 9-12 in a single building.