VALLEY CITY, ND  (NewsDakota.com)  A revised plan for three divisions of high school basketball in North Dakota, one that removes the element that caused the most dissent in December, has been distributed for member schools for feedback before a February 8th meeting considers it’s implementation.

The new plan was unveiled to a North Dakota High School Activities Association (NDHSAA) at their Friday morning meeting.  This time, the plan does not include a multiplier factor for students that are enrolled in a school that is outside of their defined district.

The multiplier was regarded as needed to account for parochial schools in North Dakota having the advantage of geography, locating in the state’s largest cities and being able to draw on a talent pool not available to their more rural, small-school counterparts that make up the present Class B field.

However, the multiplier brought threats of lawsuits from the parochial schools, located in communities like Fargo, Bismarck, Minot, and Dickinson, as they felt the multiplier was designed specifically to target their schools in an inequitable manner.

The new plan replaces the multiplier by referring to the geographic location, not type of student enrolled in the school.  Under the new plan, schools with an adjusted enrollment of 162.5 in grades 9-12, but below 650, will be in the middle division.  However schools located in a school district where the largest school is in the highest division and with an enrollment of 100-399 will automatically move up one division.

The plan accounts for more than just parochial and non-public schools.  It also addresses new high schools built in the state’s largest cities that may not be fully enrolled during a transition period.  Currently, Minot North is preparing to enter varsity athletics, and would also fall into the standard, as it is located in the same district as Minot High, a top-division school.

With talk of a flood diversion south of Fargo reaching it’s needed funding target, some have suggested both Fargo and West Fargo could add new high schools to their citie’s north sides.

Under the current proposal, almost all of the regularly-discussed parochial schools, Dickinson Trinity, Bismarck Shiloh Christian, and Fargo Oak Grove, would be moved to the middle division.  Bismarck St. Marys and Fargo Shanley have already expressed their intent to play in the top division.

One school that will not be addressed is Minot Bishop Ryan, with an enrollment of 92 in grades 9-12, but located in the state’s fourth-largest city, with a population 47,789.  Bishop Ryan would have to choose to play in the middle division on their own.

The plan also includes the development of a classification committee within the NDHSAA.  The committee would hear petitions from schools whose enrollment places them in a division that they feel does not allow them to be equitably competitive.  The committee would have the ability to move that school down a division, and would even accommodate a school playing at one classification in one gender, and a different classification in another.

The plan has a calendar for state tournaments in 2024.  The Class B and Class A girls tournament would be February 29th through March 2nd, with the A tournament at the Minot State Dome, the B tournament at the Jamestown Civic Center.   The Class B boys tournament would be in Minot March 14th through 16th.  The AA combined state tournament would be March 7th through 9th at the Bismarck Events Center.  The Class A boys state tournament would also be March 14th through 16th at the Fargodome.

Class AA would have 18 teams to start, with Minot North becoming the 19th team in 2024-25.  West Fargo Horace would be affected by the AA district rule immediately.  Class AA would maintain a two-region format for qualifying.

Class A would employ a four-region format.  The regional champion of each region would receive a state tournament berth.  In each half of the state, the runner up from a north region would be challenged for a state tournament spot by the third-place team from the south region, and vice-versa.

A very large change would occur for Class B.  The teams would be divided into eight districts, with two districts forming a region.  Four teams from each district would advance to a regional tournament.  From that point, the Class B model would follow the Class A model, with a regional champion receiving a state berth, and a runner up from a north region being challenged by a third-place team from a south region, and vice-versa, through the four layers of regional play in the state.

The plan will be considered again by the board on February 8th, with adaptation of the plan possible on that date.  February 22nd has been set as the drop-dead date for implementation of a three-division plan for 2023-24.