Hillsboro football coaches advocate for SAM Act; superintendent says HCS 'not approving' new policy

Three coaches spoke in favor of the state’s recently enacted Student Athlete Mobility Act at the Monday, Aug. 17 Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education meeting, with administration responding that the district will not be adopting any related policies in Hillsboro. 

In July, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed into law Senate Bill 276, which in part will “enact the Student Athlete Mobility (SAM) Act regarding student petitions to participate in extracurricular activities at neighboring public schools.” The new law will not take effect until October. It was voted down by the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) in May. 

As adopted, the law states that “Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, each school district board of education and school governing body that operates a high school that offers an extracurricular activity and is a member school of an organization that regulates interscholastic athletics shall adopt a policy that permits a student who is enrolled in a neighboring school that does not offer that extracurricular activity to petition to participate in that activity at the board of education's or school governing body's high school.”

A “neighboring school” in Hillsboro’s case would mean “a high school operated by a school district that directly borders [their] school district.” It is only applicable for public high schools “and only when the student’s school of attendance does not offer the sport in which the student wishes to participate,” according to the OHSAA. 

In Hillsboro’s case, several sports — including football, boys and girls swimming, boys and girls tennis and boys and girls wrestling — are offered that are not available at bordering high school districts. Districts that border Hillsboro are Bright Local (Whiteoak High School), East Clinton Local (East Clinton HS), Fairfield Local (Fairfield HS), Greenfield Exempted Village (McClain HS) and Lynchburg-Clay Local (Lynchburg-Clay HS). Fairfield, Lynchburg-Clay and Whiteoak students would be eligible for all of the above-mentioned sports at Hillsboro; McClain students would only be eligible for tennis; and East Clinton students would be eligible for swimming only.
  
However, as outlined by the OHSAA in their July legislative update, “Participation requires the approval of both superintendents, the superintendent of the student’s school of attendance and the superintendent of the school at which the student seeks to participate. If either superintendent does not approve the request, the student may not participate at the other school.” 

Hillsboro City Schools superintendent Tim Davis announced at the meeting that he would not be approving any such participation agreement or allow the petition process to begin.

During the public participation portion of their monthly meeting Aug 17, the HCS Board heard from Hillsboro head varsity football coach Nathan Horne and assistant coaches Cody Mathews and Ben Pence advocating for the implementation of a policy in response to the passage of the SAM Act.

Horne said he wanted to “put my support for the act on record.

“The Student Athlete Mobility Act gives students in the area the ability to play football, wrestle, swim, participate in tennis, that otherwise they would not have those opportunities,” Horne said. “Education is about giving all students as many opportunities as possible. We should welcome all students from our neighboring schools with open hearts.”

Along with the coaches, Horne said his players would also “welcome this and want students to come to participate. 

“It is a hard question to answer when they ask me why, as a school district, we aren't letting students take advantage of this opportunity,” Horne said. “Our students want the best team possible, and as a coach, I want the best team possible. We should welcome competition and the additional players. 

“Football has been struggling with numbers all over the country, and there's no exception here. We need players to keep our sport alive. I have a hard time justifying not letting good kids from good families play here in Hillsboro. They will help our kids be a part of more successful teams.”

Horne told the board and administrators, “Why not bring athletes from all schools in to be a part of our sports community, and just maybe, they will want to be a part of our academic community?” He pointed out that three of the five Highland County public high schools — Fairfield, Lynchburg-Clay and Whiteoak — do not offer football.

“Picture a football team of Hillsboro, Whiteoak, Fairfield and Lynchburg students that come to compete with some of those suburban schools that we face with 90-plus athletes,” Horne said. “That seems to me like the future. Let's be at the forefront.”

Mathews spoke in favor of students in smaller schools being able to pursue other sports as well, such as tennis, swimming and wrestling. 

“When I was in school, we didn't have a swim team,” Mathews said. “We didn't have a bowling team. There's a lot of opportunities, and I think that's wonderful. As a teacher in the school, as a coach in the school, I think those are great.”

Mathews continued that “suburban schools [are] increasing” their numbers, while Hillsboro is “not necessarily in that boat.

“I can't speak to the motivations of the governor in signing the law,” Mathews said. “I have to think part of it is that he recognizes that maybe we at rural schools face a competitive disadvantage when it comes to larger schools.

“Competitively, I think [the law] does level the playing field a little bit, and we are uniquely situated at Hillsboro, where schools in the league, as well as on our schedule, may not have the same opportunities,” Mathews continued. “It's a mutual benefit. We can provide an opportunity for kids that would come in, and we can help our program.”

Pence shared his perspective as both an assistant football coach and as the head wrestling coach, as both sports would be impacted if a change in policy is ever made.

“I've really tried to build our wrestling program from the ground up,” Pence said. “It pains me every year as somebody who inevitably will have to tell a sixth-grader that goes to Whiteoak — for example, anyway — that ‘hey, your career is done. You can't wrestle for us anymore.’ I do believe that this law has opened up that opportunity.”

Pence added that he agreed with Horne that this law could increase enrollment in Hillsboro’s district as well.  

“I personally strongly believe that once students come into our family — and I do believe that our sports is a family — that once they come into our family, that they're going to see what we're about and want to become part of our academic family,” Pence said. “I think that this is an opportunity for us to gain the student population rather than lose participation in sports.”

Pence also stressed the importance of implementing this policy before it’s too late.

“I do believe that if this is something we don't jump on now, we're not going to get the opportunity to decide that we want to jump on this later,” Pence said.

Davis addressed the comments later in the meeting during his report, as he quoted the portion of the law about the arrangement being “subject to an agreement between the superintendent of the students' district of enrollment and the superintendent of the neighboring public school district.

“With that being said, the OHSAA put it to a vote,” Davis said. “The vote was declined by the member schools to not allow this transfer of students, so, at this time, Hillsboro City Schools right now is not approving any student from another public school that wants to participate in our programs. 

“Students from other public schools have an option to open enroll to our district in the summer if they meet that deadline, so there is an opportunity. If a student does want to play football or wrestle, they could always open enroll. If their school does not have that sport, they would not have to sit out of those sports, and then those students would be in our classrooms academically or in our enrollment. 

“At this time, we are not going to be, and I'm not going to be, approving students that are enrolled in other public schools to participate in our programs.”

Board president Bill Myers echoed those thoughts in letters sent to each of the three participants, advising the coaches that “if students that do not live in our district want to participate in our extracurricular sports that are not offered at their public school, those students should apply for open enrollment to become a part of the Hillsboro City Schools District.”