Op-Ed by Eric Horton
Well as we get closer to Friday, October 27, 2023, rumors begin to swirl about the upcoming biennial UIL realignments, which takes place in early 2024. You might be asking what’s so important about Friday, October 27. That is “snapshot” day, or the day that each Texas public school enters its enrollment and other educational information into the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS)
Every odd year; i.e. 2021, 2023; UIL uses the enrollment data from PEIMS to determine classifications, or what UIL calls conferences, which is 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, & 6A, and football divisions 1 & 2 in 1A through 5A. Class 6A splits into two divisions when the football playoffs begin. With this snapshot date looming, rumors begin to churn. Here is what I’ve heard and what I think will happen.
Out on the South Plains and the Panhandle, not much should change, unless UIL changes the cutoff numbers drastically. They did last round in 2021, especially 2A & 3A. We already know from UIL that 1A will stay the same as they have already released the 2024-2026 Conference and District Assignment Policies and Procedures. In this release it says, “Conference A shall consist of all schools with an enrollment of 104.9 or lower.” So already, we know Meadow ISD & Wellman-Union ISD will stay 1A unless there is some kind of miraculous influx. Again, the question remains what is the cutoff going to be for 1A DI and 1A DII? Currently, the division cutoff numbers are 59.5 – 104.9 for DI and 59.4 and below for DII and both schools are in DI and in the same football district.
I am very confident that Brownfield will stay in 3A and will be in Division I in football. The question is, what will be the official cutoff numbers, and who will be placed in district with each other? Currently, the 3A division cutoff numbers are 360-544 for DI and for 3A DII it’s 250-359. In the 2014 realignment, this was the first football season that 2A through 5A were split into two divisions for district competition (1A had already done this prior). Brownfield landed with Denver City, Kermit, Shallowater, Slaton, and Tornillo. In the 2016 realignments, Brownfield moved up to 4A by 10 students and was placed with Bushland, Dalhart, Denver City, and Perryton in Dist. 1-4A DII. In the 2018 realignments, Brownfield moved back down to 3A DI in football being placed in a four-team district with Denver City, Kermit, and Tornillo. In 2020, Brownfield stayed 3A DI and was placed in a six-team district with Denver City, Kermit, Lamesa, Shallowater, & Slaton. Of course fast forward to 2022, and Brownfield is still 3A DI in football with Denver City, Kermit, Lamesa, and Slaton.
Brownfield has averaged around 464 students enrolled for the past five realignments. The 2019 snapshot date was the lowest with 438 and 2016 was the highest with 490. The 2021 snapshot enrollment was 474. According to the enrollment information given at the September 2023 Brownfield School Board meeting, the enrollment is sitting at 476. The 2013 cutoffs for 3A were 220 – 464, 2015 was 221 – 479, 2017 was 225 – 504, 2019 was 230 – 514, and 2021 was 250 – 544. As you can see the past five snapshot cutoff enrollment numbers for 3A grew on both the bottom and top, and the 2021 snapshot grew by 30. With all this, most likely UIL will either raise the cutoff by five or simply keep it like it is, so Brownfield should comfortably be in 3A DI football.
Now back to the rumor mill. Two schools continue to be talked about moving up to 4A, and those two are Bushland and Shallowater. However, Bushland turned in 507 in 2021 and Shallowater turned in 492 in 2021. Looking at the current cutoffs, Bushland would need to add at least 38 students or 9.5 students per class and Shallowater would need to add 53 students or 13.25 students a class. Again, this is with the current cutoff numbers. So, therefore, it is highly unlikely these two will move up to 4A. Now there could still be a shakeup in Region I 3A DI, due to Brock most likely going up to 4A, also Iowa Park and Vernon, which moved down to 3A last round, still have numbers close to the 3A/4A cutoff.
There is the possibility of Comanche going up to 3A DI which would most likely take the place of Brock, not to mention Early, Littlefield, and San Angelo Leadership all sit at the cusp of moving from 3A DII to 3A DI. The Littlefield scenario would most likely see a return to a least one six-team district (one could only hope) in the Panhandle and South Plains. Currently, all but three districts in 3A DI have six to seven teams in a district. So if Littlefield moves to DI, I can see Bushland, Dalhart, Littlefield, Muleshoe, and River Road. This means that Brownfield will be with again Denver City, Kermit, Lamesa, and Slaton, and then to round it out add Shallowater. Of course, Shallowater could go north. We’ll see.
In Class 2A DI football could really see a shake-up in Region I. In 2016 New Home had 73 students in its high school. However, the school district saw the writing on the wall in 2018 when the high school grew by 20 students, which still kept them 1A. New Home decided to get a jump start and elected to play 11-man football. This was good because, in 2020, they did jump to 2A for all sports with 113 students in high school. This was still 21 students less than their arch-rival Ropes, who also joined the 2A ranks in all sports the same year. Both schools have seen significant growth, with New Home having 154 students in the last realignment and Ropes having 141. If the current cutoff numbers for 2A DI &DII stay the same, DI being 164.5 – 249 and DII 105-164.4, then there is a very good chance both will see DI. Let’s not forget about Abernathy and Spearman possibly moving down to 2A, also Gruver, Hale Center, Quanah, Roscoe, and Sunray are close to the 2A DI cutoff numbers..
Tahoka, which is 13 miles from New Home, and both share Lynn County, have a good chance of being placed in a district together. If Tahoka stays in DI, then most likely you’ll see a cross-county rivalry in district action. We could also add with New Home and Tahoka the likes of Ropes, Post, New Deal and Sundown, and maybe Abernathy. Of course, this would drastically change things for Morton, Seagraves, Smyer, and, Plains. Most likely they’ll go north with Sudan and Bovina. Again, these are just possibilities.
There is a problem with Class 4A in West Texas and that problem is, there are not many 4A schools in both DI and DII for football. In Class 4A, there will be some changes as well. Number 1, Lubbock-Cooper Liberty is now open and UIL placed every sport, other than football in Class 3A. That will not last that long, because, with the formula UIL wants the school to use, it is highly anticipated that Liberty will go to 4A and will play DII in football. I’ll get to Cooper High in a bit. Canyon West Plains is also in its second year of being open and they are in 4A DII, but on its last count, there were 865 students. That is where Canyon ISD is growing, so most likely West Plain will jump to 4A DI in football. So there is a huge possibility that all three Canyon ISD high schools will be together with Dumas, Hereford, and Pampa. Now that’s not too bad for travel, but the 4A DII schools are another problem.
Obviously, Liberty will take the place of West Plains in that district, and I don’t believe Lubbock Estacado will be dropping to DII. So this leaves Borger, Levelland, and Seminole with Liberty. Now, the way Seminole and Gaines County has grown, Seminole might go to DI. If that happens, then it’s gonna be really bad for Borger. Perhaps Iowa Park and Vernon will go back to 4A, but still no matter how you look at this, Borger will be traveling in district far away. Keeping it in 4A, with Wichita Falls ISD opening two brand new high schools and shuttering the three it has, Hirschi High School is currently 4A DII. This could shift Sweetwater, Snyder, and Midland Greenwood to the west and pick up Monahans, Pecos, and Ft. Stockton. Apparently, the schools in Clint and Fabens will most likely go to DI in 4A
Let’s go to 5A. Lubbock-Cooper High School will most likely go back to 5A DII since Liberty will take a lot of those students. This is also tricky. Lubbock High and Amarillo Palo Duro both sit in DII and Wichita Falls Rider does as well, but they’ll no longer exist at the end of the year. If you add Cooper, there is the possibility of being minus two schools. That means it’s just Lubbock Cooper, Plainview, Abilene Cooper, and Wylie. That four teams and everyone get to the playoffs. However, there are a few options. Lubbock Cooper and Plainview could join the only 5A DII district in El Paso and Abilene Cooper and Wylie could join the Ft Worth district. I’m not gonna lie, I don’t want to be the one making that decision.
As for 6A, well it’ll pretty much stay the same for at least two more years until Frenship gets its new school built. So this Friday, October 27, 2023, listen, watch and see what the numbers are. In late November or early December UIL will most likely put out a press release on the cutoffs and we’ll know more then, but we won’t exactly what districts schools will be placed until early February 2024.
