Alabama’s public and private schools will be split into different playoff brackets and championship divisions, beginning with fall sports later this year. 

The vote to separate public and private schools in postseason competition came Friday morning during the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s biennial reclassification. AHSAA’s Central Board of Control approved the change by a 13-2 vote. 

Under the new structure, public and private schools can continue to compete against one another during the regular season but will advance into separate postseason playoffs and championship events through the 2027-28 school year. 

HOW IT WORKS 

Now, football classification outlook will be 1-6A classes for public and 1-2A classes for private, moving from seven championships to eight. AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon said the decision represents a restructuring of postseason competition rather than a separation of membership. 

“The landscape of education-based athletics in Alabama is changing, and the AHSAA must continue to adapt,” Harmon was quoted saying in an AHSAA press release. “After careful review – and after listening to our public and private school members – the Central Board determined that now is an appropriate time to restructure championship play, resulting in restructured championships for public and private schools. This model will be implemented for the next two years.” 

Public school football programs will compete in six classes for the first time since 2014, and 6A will have 32 members. Private school programs will compete in two brackets, a large and a small school classification. 

Baldwin County has three AHSAA private school and eight public school members. Bayshore Christian, Bayside Academy and St. Michael Catholic will now compete in the separated private school postseason brackets. 

Outside of the 32 6A members for football, Class 5A will have 64 schools, 4A and 3A will each have six, 2A will have 65, and 1A will have 69 members. Private classes will consist of 17 Double A programs and 43 Single A. 

As far as movement for football, Daphne, Fairhope, Foley and Robertsdale all move down to 6A with the depletion of 7A. Baldwin County, Gulf Shores and Spanish Fort join Elberta in 5A after moving down from 6A. Orange Beach stays in 4A. 

For private schools, St. Michael will be classified as Double A private, while Bayside and Bayshore move to Single A. One concern with the two private school classifications is the disparity in enrollment.

St. Michael will now compete in the same classification as McGill-Toolen, a former 6A program with roughly twice St. Michael’s enrollment. Cardinals’ athletic director David Offerle expressed his concerns around competing with much larger schools.

“As far as the new regions or reclassification goes, I’m a bit bothered by being grouped with schools that are two-times our size,” Offerle said. “I also had no problem with the current system. It will be harder for us, but they made it easier for bigger private schools.”

Other sports will have a diverse number of classifications; only fall sport classifications and regions have been announced. For example, girl’s flag football will not go from two classifications to four, as public schools compete in 1-4A, 5A and 6A brackets, while private schools compete in one separate class. Volleyball will have the same layout as football. 

HISTORIC CHANGES 

The move follows months of debate among the AHSAA reclassification committee, which met twice in 2025 to examine competitive balance issues, including the use of enrollment multipliers for private schools and the application of success-based adjustments. The association also delayed its reclassification announcement amid ongoing mediation tied to a lawsuit involving Alabama’s CHOOSE Act. 

With the change came the removal of the 1.35 enrollment multiplier, which had been in place since 1999, and the competitive balance factor added in 2018. Under the new model, private schools will be classified strictly by enrollment with no additional weighting. The changes also remove financial considerations from eligibility decisions, meaning sources such as the CHOOSE Act, Accountability Act, scholarships and other aid will no longer affect a private school’s athletic eligibility. 

“Through multiple meetings with our private school members, they expressed a desire for greater financial flexibility,” Harmon said. “This model directly addresses those concerns while maintaining fair play for all. Because postseason competition will follow restructured pathways, we are now able to move toward removing financial barriers for private school eligibility.”

The decision marks a significant change and aligns the state with a handful of others that allow public and private schools to compete during the regular season while separating postseason championship play. This will be the first time in AHSAA history that all member schools will not play for the same championships.