Depending on who you were with on the morning of February 2 when the University Interscholastic League announced its realignment, you may have seen shrugs, hugs, smiles…and possibly a few groans.
Every two years the state’s governing body for public high school athletics (as well as academic and fine arts programs) reassesses enrollment statistics at Texas’ high schools and reshapes the landscape of competition based on those enrollment numbers.
With the substantial growth of some regions combined with the decline in the school-aged populations of other areas, it is a necessary evil in ensuring that athletic competition among those schools is as fair as it can possibly be.
But part of the process always seems to be creating some interesting scenarios that benefit some schools—and make life tough for others.
Several Houston area schools were affected in those ways on Thursday. Here’s a look at how the landscape was reshaped.
Class 5A Region II
As will likely be the case for the foreseeable future, Houston’s north side will still have a pair of districts in Region II, which extends north to Dallas and East Texas. But the composition of those districts was altered quite a bit.
District 13-5A is still includes the Klein ISD and Spring ISD schools, but Tomball has departed for Class 4A and the two Humble ISD 5A schools have been moved in to form a nine-team district that should remain one of the most competitive football districts in the state.
The road trips in 14-5A for the Conroe-area schools will extend beyond Lufkin for the next two school years. Bryan and A&M Consolidated have been moved into the district. The trips between Lufkin and Bryan/College Station may make for some interesting logistical issues as well. On the fields and courts, though, the games should be very entertaining.
Class 5A Region III
Very little changed for the districts in the northern and western portions of the Houston area.
Districts 17-5A (Cy-Fair ISD schools), 18-5A (Alief and Aldine ISD schools) and 19-5A (Katy ISD, Memorial and Strake Jesuit) didn’t change at all.
District 23-5A, the Fort Bend ISD district, has been reduced from ten teams to eight. The enrollment numbers for Marshall and Willowridge dropped both those schools into the Class 4A ranks.
The only change in 20-5A, the lone Houston ISD 5A district, was the loss of Milby to the 4A ranks. The district will be a seven-team league beginning next year.
There were some changes to the competitive landscape, though, on the south and east sides of the city.
The revamped District 21-5A will include Deer Park, in a logical move that reunites the school with its natural rival, La Porte.
While the Pasadena ISD schools in 22-5A may have seemed to benefit from the move-out of Deer Park, the UIL replaced the Deer with Pearland and Manvel. Manvel moves up from the 4A classification, where it competed against Aledo for the Class 4A-Division 2 state football championship in December. Pearland has been a perennial football contender in Class 5A since Tony Heath took over the program in the late 1990s and won the Class 5A-Division 1 football title in 2010. Alvin also joins the five Pasadena schools to complete the eight-team district.
With the departure of Pearland and Alvin, District 24-5A will become a seven-team league, as Clear Falls moves in to join the other four Clear Creek ISD schools and Dickinson and Brazoswood. The Knights will be playing their first varsity football season in 2012.
Class 4A Region III
While 5A changed some, the landscape in 4A was affected to a greater degree with the realignment, primarily due to the fact that the Houston ISD was reduced to a single 4A district.
Declining enrollment on several HISD campuses necessitated the formation of a Houston district in Class 3A. The remaining Houston ISD 4A schools—Austin, Davis, Lee, Milby (down from 20-5A), Reagan, Sharpstown, Waltrip and Wheatley—will be grouped into District 21-4A with North Forest, provided North Forest avoids closure by the Texas Education Agency in 2012-2013.
Elsewhere, the Houston area had been the exclusive domain of 4A-Region III since the last round of realignment. But 2012 will see the return of an Austin-area district into the region.
17-4A figures to be a factor in the region, especially in football and baseball, as the district will include former 5A school Georgetown, as well as former 3A stalwart Hutto. New schools Georgetown East View and Bastrop Cedar Creek join the mix too.
18-4A will face similar logistical challenges to 14-5A. Brenham and Bryan Rudder are included with Huntsville, Willis and Caney Creek in the district that also has former 17-4A residents Magnolia, Magnolia West, Montgomery and Waller. Road trips will be just that in this nine-team district.
22-4A is another district that will be spread out across the west side of the area. Tomball and Tomball Memorial on the far northwest side of the area are blended with Fort Bend ISD schools Marshall, Ridge Point and Willowridge, as well as three Spring Branch ISD schools (Northbrook, Stratford and Spring Woods).
19-4A schools Dayton, Crosby, C.E. King and Barbers Hill are joined by Humble, Kingwood Park, Summer Creek, New Caney and Porter in the revamped district.
Galena Park and Baytown schools Goose Creek Memorial and Robert E. Lee have migrated from 19-4A southward into 24-4A, joining previous residents Dawson, Friendswood, Galveston Ball, Santa Fe and Texas City.
District 23-4A almost avoided any changes, keeping seven of the eight current schools in tact. Only El Campo moved out, dropping to Class 3A.
The Golden Triangle teams—and Livingston—will still call 20-4A home. This was the lone 4A district in the region that did not change.
Class 3A Region III
For the first time since the UIL went to five classifications, there will be a Class 3A district within the Houston city limits. Eight HISD teams, most notably Yates, will make up District 23-3A.
Class 3A is comprised of schools with enrollments between 450-1,004 students.
La Marque drops from 24-4A to 24-3A. They should be able to compete favorably against Columbia, KIPP Academy, KIPP-Sunnyside, Sweeny and Stafford.
Class 3A Region IV
El Campo not only changed classifications, they also moved into a new region too. The Ricebirds will join Bellville, Columbus, Needville, Brookshire Royal, Sealy and Wharton in Region IV’s District 25-3A. It should be an interesting district to watch on Friday nights in the fall and the teams that move into the playoffs from the district may find plenty of postseason success against teams from the Coastal Bend and the Rio Grande Valley.
Comments