Free, reduced-price lunches may decide school sports classifications

By Dana Hess

For the S.D. Newspaper Association

An amendment to the constitution of the South Dakota High School Activities Association could change the way students are counted at some schools for the purposes of determining sports classifications.

The SDHSAA board approved the first reading of the amendment at its meeting Wednesday, Jan. 12.

The amendment includes a formula for using a school district’s free and reduced lunch participation to lower its enrollment count. That count is used to determine each school’s classification in SDHSAA activities.

In the formula, a school’s enrollment co...