SIOUX FALLS - South Dakota high school officials have rejected a proposal that would have required student athletes to sit out one year of sports if they switch schools through the 1997 state open enrollment law.

South Dakota High School Activities Association bylaws amendments need 60 percent approval. This one only received 48 percent.

In 1998, 71 students switched school districts for sports reasons. The total shot to 235 in 1999, prompting SDHSAA to establish a rule that allows students to open enroll only once during high school and still be eligible for sports.

Last year, 174 student athletes transferred to schools in other districts without moving to those communities.

St. Thomas More activities director Craig Nowotny, a former activities association board member, said he believed the eligibility rule currently in effect is adequate.

That rule stated that students in attendance the first day of school were eligible to participate in sports and other activities immediately. Students transferring after the start of the school year were required to sit out 45 days.

"I thought that rule was sufficient. That's why we put it in there in the first place. It took away the kids that were transferring after the start of the school year to play in a particular sport," he said.

He said he opposed the proposal requiring all transferring students to sit out an entire year of sports participation

"It was penalizing the sub-varsity kids," he said.

He cited a Minnesota rule that regulates students transferring to participate in sports.

"In Minnesota, they can participate at the sub-varsity level, but not at the varsity level. That rule would be better received than what was in place here because that penalized everybody," he said. "If they go to school as a freshman and make a mistake about the school they choose, (and wish to) change schools, I don't think we need to penalize them by making them sit out a full year," Nowotny said "We just feel the rule in effect is working.

"Kids leave our school as well as come to our school. They leave (Rapid City) Stevens and go to (Rapid City) Central and leave Central and go to Stevens. There are those that leave St. Thomas More and go to the public schools and go from the public schools to More. It's not just a one-way street," Nowotny said.

Mark Meile, Sioux Falls School District activities director, said votes against the one-year restriction were submitted by Lincoln,

Roosevelt and Washington high schools. He was not surprised the proposal failed.

"Open enrollment may be a problem for some schools or towns, but I don't see it as a major issue," Meile said.

Spearfish activities director Mike Paris said his school has had its share of open enrollees, but the one's that do it for athletic reasons are few and far between.

"We get maybe one or two kids a year at the most who do that," Paris said. "I can only think of one kid who transferred and ended up starting on a varsity sport for us."

Colman-Egan coach and administrator Terry Stulken helped lead the effort to put the amendment to a vote. It should have been passed, he said.

"High school sports are the last place where we still have rules and regulations and a level playing field," Stulken said.

"We need to try to preserve that, and we missed an opportunity."

The outcome of the voting may have been affected by the financial aspect of open enrollment, he said. Since state aid to schools is based on per-student enrollment, school districts welcome transfers, Stulken said.

"In the big picture, schools financially cannot afford to turn kids down for any reason," he said.

"Apparently, those dollars carry more weight than the integrity of state events," Stulken added.

Stulken and others said that open enrollment transfers played key roles in recent state championship teams in basketball and other sports.

Noting that nearly half of the schools favored the one-year sports restriction, an SDHSAA official said the issue could be revived as early as next year.

"I think some people are using open enrollment for reasons other than what it was intended, but I don't think it is a huge issue," Paris said.