SCHSL releases proposed reclassification for 2026-27, '27-28 school years

Sumter – There are plenty of significant changes awaiting South Carolina High School League sports following the release of the organization’s reclassification for the 2026-27 and ’27-28 school years on Friday.

 Fifteen High School Sports Report sponsor schools are were affected by the reclassification. Fourteen of them are dropping down a class – Gaffney from AAAAA to AAAA, Camden, Hartsville and Emerald from AAAA to AAA, Dillon from AAA to AA and Andrews, Barnwell, Batesburg-Leesville, Cheraw, Chesterfield, Hampton County, Kingstree, Marion and Mullins from AA to Class A.

 The only school moving up is Fox Creek from AAA to AAAA.

 Realignment occurs every two years in an attempt to maintain the competition level. This year’s realignment is based on 45-day enrollment numbers from grades 9-11.

For the second straight realignment, an out-of-zone multiplier is being used. Any student who lives outside of the school’s assigned attendance zone is counted as three.

Schools will have a chance to appeal their class placement to the SCHSL Executive Committee. The appeal must be submitted in writing by 1 p.m. on Jan. 7. Appeals will be heard Jan. 13-14 with a second appeal, if needed, heard Jan. 15-16.

After that takes place, regions will be determined and will be released on Jan. 23. Schools will have the opportunity to appeal that as well. Appeals to the classification executive committee will be held Feb. 3-5 and then to the SCHSL Executive Committee on Feb. 10 and Appellate panel on Feb. 12.

 Here’s a look at some of the changes for each of the classes.

 AAAAA

 The AAAAA classification is to be reduced from 54 to 40 schools. Also, after the class was split into two divisions the past two years and crowned separate state champions in each sport, all 40 schools will play for one title.

 Despite the reduction in the number of schools, two schools will move from AAAA to AAAAA. They are Gray Collegiate Academy, a public charter school that uses the 3-times qualifier to determine its student enrollment, and South Florence.

 The school with the largest enrollment is Dorman at 2,929, while Lucy Beckham has the smallest AAAAA enrollment at 1,458.

 AAAA

 The AAAA class is slated to increase by one from 41 to 42. Of course, with the 14-school reduction in AAAAA, there are plenty of changes.

 Some of the other schools to drop down to AAAA are Irmo, T.L. Hanna, Westwood, Catawba Ridge, Nation Ford, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Conway and St. James.

 Lake Wylie, which is opening in 2026 and just hired White Knoll’s Nick Pelham as its first football head coach, will start in AAAA. The school from which Lake Wylie is an offshoot, Clover, is penciled in for AAAA after being in AAAAA.

 Another York County school, Legion Collegiate Academy in Rock Hill, is rejoining SCHSL as a AAAA school.

 T.L. Hanna has the highest enrollment at 1,561 with the smallest being Colleton County at 981.

 AAA

 After having just 33 schools the past two years, AAA is set to have 40 for the next two years.

 Some other schools making the drop from AAAA to AAA include Airport, Daniel, Darlington, Lower Richland, Bishop England, Lakewood, Crestwood and Gilbert.

 A new school to SCHSL is Legacy Early College in Greenville, and it will start in AAA. Legacy, which doesn’t offer a team in all sports, is ineligible for championships in ’26-27, but will be able to compete after that.

 There are four other schools that haven’t had football teams – Brashier Middle College, Greer Middle College, Bridges Preparatory School and GREEN Upstate, which is moving up from Class A.

 Atlantic Collegiate Academy will be moving up from AA along with Brashier.

 Airport has the largest enrollment at 1,042, while Loris has the smallest at 738.

 AA

 After having 45 schools, AA is slated to have 41 starting next year.

 Some of the other schools dropping from AAA to AA are Woodruff, Orangeburg-Wilkinson, St. Joseph’s, Mountain View Prep, Waccamaw, Keenan, Silver Bluff, Southside Christian School and Newberry.

 Charleston Charter Math/Science has the largest AA enrollment at 759. Blacksburg has the smallest at 492.

 CLASS A

 There are 66 schools slated to be in Class A starting in 2026-27 after 50 the last two years. There is a distinct possibility there will be two divisions because of the disparity in enrollment numbers.

 The largest school is Ninety Six with an enrollment of 489. The smallest enrollment is South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind at 44. A football school with the smallest enrollment is No. 65 Calhoun Falls with 94.

 There are 32 schools with enrollments of 303 or more and 34 with 297 or less.

 Along with the nine aforementioned HSSR schools, Ninety Six is one of 15 schools to drop from AA. The others are Fairfield Central, Buford, North Central, Edisto and Eau Claire.

 Burke has the largest enrollment of incumbent Class A schools at 453.

 PROPOSED CLASSIFICATIONS

 AAAAA

1. Dorman 2,929

2. Summerville 2,729

3. Carolina Forest 2,635

4. Byrnes 2,547

5. Spring Valley 2,336

6. Boiling Springs 2,197

7. West Ashley 2,177

8. Wando 2,147

9. Mauldin 2,143

10. Lexington 2,132

11. Stratford 2,087

12. Ashley Ridge 2,056

13. James Island 2,013

14. Wade Hampton 1,962

15. Cane Bay 1,961

16. River Bluff 1,958

17. West Florence 1,877

18. Fort Dorchester 1,871

19. Berkeley 1,830

20. Blythewood 1,829

21. Spartanburg 1,812

22. J L Mann 1,793

23. Sumter 1,764

24. Rock Hill 1,753

25. Socastee 1,752

26. Hillcrest 1,747

27. Stall 1,740

28. Eastside 1,717

29. Dutch Fork 1,708

30. South Florence 1,708

31. Fort Mill 1,681

32. Woodmont 1,675

33. Gray Collegiate 1,640

34. Ridge View 1,630

35. Chapin 1,628

36. White Knoll 1,610

37. Northwestern 1,571

38. Goose Creek 1,566

39. Indian Land 1,540

40. Lucy Beckham 1,458

AAAA

1. T L Hanna 1,561

2. Conway 1,557

3. Nation Ford 1,534

4. Wilson 1,517

5. Gaffney 1,505

6. St. James 1,464

7. Fountain Inn 1,449

8. Greenwood 1,442

9. Lugoff Elgin 1,419

10. May River 1,407

11. Riverside 1,396 1

12. Westwood 1,392

13. North Myrtle Beach 1,386

14. Catawba Ridge 1,377

15. North Augusta 1,374

16. Irmo 1,356

17. Easley 1,354

18. Greenville 1,345

19. Westside 1,338

20. South Aiken 1,297

21. Midland Valley 1,267

22. South Pointe 1,261

23. Fox Creek 1,256

24. Richland Northeast 1,254

25. Dreher 1,235

26. Bluffton 1,216

27. Myrtle Beach 1,198

28. Travelers Rest 1,192

29. York 1,192

30. Aiken 1,188

31. Legion Collegiate 1,171

32. Greer 1,145

33. Lake Wylie 1,132

34. Greenville Tech 1,113

35. A.C. Flora 1,100

36. Laurens 1,091

37. Clover 1,075

38. Lancaster 1,062

39. Brookland-Cayce 1,058

40. Beaufort 1,044

41. Hilton Head Island 983

42. Colleton County 981

AAA

1. Airport 1,042

2. Wren 1,030

3. Daniel 1,024

4. Greer Middle 1,022

5. Pickens 986

6. Lower Richland 982

7. Blue Ridge 974

8. Berea 966

9. Walhalla 960

10. Gilbert 955

11. Hartsville 945

12. Southside 933

13. Emerald 928

14. Brashier Middle 926

15. Crestwood 901

16. Camden 890

17. Hanahan 887

18. Aynor 881

19. Powdersville 877

20. Darlington 876

21. Legacy Early College 873

22. Bridges Prep 853

23. Atlantic Collegiate 846

24. North Charleston 842

25. Palmetto 839

26. GREEN Upstate 834

27. Seneca 831

28. Chapman 827

29. Oceanside Collegiate 805

30. Georgetown 797

31. Broome 794

32. Union County 791

33. Belton-Honea Path 781

34. Lakewood 779

35. Christ Church 777

36. Bishop England 763

37. Marlboro County 761

38. Pendleton 757

39. Swansea 745

40. Loris 738

AA

1. Charleston Charter M/S 759

2. Battery Creek 736

3. Woodruff 723

4. Orangeburg-Wilkinson 721

5. Carolina Academy 711

6. St. Joseph’s 709

7. Mountain View Prep 703

8. High Point 701

9. Waccamaw 698

10. Clinton 686

11. Landrum 672

12. American Leadership 671

13. Chesnee 666

14. Keenan 666

15. Horse Creek Academy 665

16. West-Oak 662

17. Southside Christian 660

18. Philip Simmons 654

19. Crescent 642

20. York Prep 609

21. Newberry 607

22. Pelion 604

23. Strom Thurmond 604

24. Woodland 600

25. Silver Bluff 597

26. Dillon 596

27. Andrew Jackson 588

28. Liberty 588

29. Academic Magnet 575

30. Columbia 572

31. Lake City 570

32. Manning 568

33. Timberland 564

34. Lake Marion 559

35. Saluda 548

36. Mid-Carolina 546

37. East Clarendon 532

38. Palmetto Scholars 525

39. Central 513

40. Chester 511

41. Blacksburg 492

CLASS A

1. Ninety Six 489

2. Hampton County 487

3. Fairfield Central 485

4. Kingstree 479

5. Barnwell 472

6. Buford 456

7. North Central 454

8. Batesburg-Leesville 453

9. Burke 453

10. Mullins 449

11. Edisto 439

12. Cheraw 437

13. Eau Claire 436

14. Marion 433

15. Riverwalk Academy 428

16. Chesterfield 410

17. Latta 401

18. Andrews 393

19. Bamberg-Ehrhardt 365

20. Virtus Academy 361

21. Abbeville 348

22. Whale Branch 343

23. Carvers Bay 342

24. Dixie 331

25. Hannah-Pamplico 330

26. Lee Central 328

27. Ridgeland 328

28. Johnsonville 325

29. Lewisville 323

30. Green Sea Floyds 305

31. Hardeeville 305

32. St John’s 303

33. CA Johnson 297

34. Calhoun County 296

35. Royal Live Oaks 282

 36. McBee 262

37. Baptist Hill 261

38. Clear Dot Charter 249

39. Ridge Spring-Monetta 247

40. Thornwell 232

41. Coastal High 231

42. Wagener-Salley 220

43. Lake View 212

44. Lamar 211

45. Lowcountry Leadership 209

46. Polaris Tech 193

47. Ware Shoals 193

48. Whitmire 193

49. Military Magnet 185

50. Scott’s Branch 179

51. Allendale Fairfax 177

52. Williston-Elko 176

53. Bethune-Bowman 163

54. Great Falls 158

55. Branchville 154

56. Cross 145

57. Governor’s School 138

58. Denmark-Olar 136

59. Hemingway 123

60. McCormick 119

61. Hunter-Kinard-Tyler 115

62. Blackville-Hilda 104

63. North 99

64. Midlands STEM 96

65. Calhoun Falls 94

66. SC School for Deaf and Blind 44