Texas public schools h a v e a tremendous stake in student performance on mandated TAKS tests.
The UIL has followed a policy of rescheduling events to avoid conflicts with testing. In the last regular session, Senator Frank Madla, D-San Antonio, authored a bill that prevented UIL playoff games from being played on certain days during the week of a TAKS test.
The bill did not address regular season contests, only playoff games. Therefore, for the 2006-2007 school year, the UIL announced a calendar to eliminate conflicts with boys’ and girls’ basketball playoffs.
In late April, the original TAKS testing dates were changed by the Texas Education Agency at the request of school superintendents. This necessitated a revision of the UIL (previously announced) playoff schedule for both boys’ and girls’ basketball.
This new schedule was placed on the UIL Web site on May 2, 2006. We apologize for the confusion, but our top priority is to work with state officials to avoid potential interference with the academic mission of our schools.
In 2006-2007, there is a conflict with the testing schedule and the UIL Academic Regional Meet. We see no option but to move regionals to avoid the direct conflict. Here are some considerations:
• If academic regionals are moved one week later, there is a conflict with regional track, golf and tennis. In addition, there would be only one week (or three working days) between regionals and the Academic State Meet.
In conference A through AAA many students would have to choose between athletics and academics.
• The least intrusive path would be to move academic regionals one week earlier to April 13-14.
• This is the date for the State Soccer Tournament. A student would not be able to participate in soccer and academics. However, there have been few soccer players in 4A and 5A who also compete in academics competition.
• The Conference A Area track meet would have to be moved either earlier in the week or to an earlier week. Because of the small size of schools, numerous students in Conference A compete in both athletics and academics.
• Other conference 2A-5A district track meets would have to be scheduled earlier in the week (Monday, Tuesday) if districts do not hold them the first week of April.
• The ILPC State Convention would need to be rescheduled. Holding this convention on April 14 would wreak havoc on the journalism contests, contestants, coaches and director.
• If we choose to move academic regionals a week earlier, 20 regional sites at colleges and universities will need to reschedule meets. We already know two, perhaps three that cannot make the change.
• There would be three weeks between academic regionals and state. Some are not happy about this, especially One-Act and speech contestants.
It is important that we find a spot in the calendar to reserve dates for our sequence of district, regional and state academic competitions. By qualifying to the state meet at least one time during their four years of high school competition, students are eligible to apply for over $1,000,000 in scholarships through the Texas Interscholastic League Foundation.
Far more important is the opportunity for Texas students to compare their talents in academic venues with other students from across the state. It is a positive learning experience with tremendous lifelong enrichment potential.
We did not announce a revised schedule at the academic state meet because we had not received responses from all regional sites. Rest assured that the UIL staff is working on the best possible solution.
More importantly, we are committed to changing and adjusting future events to protect the testing schedule and be a contributor to Texas education initiatives and mandates, not a hindrance.
Whenever a revised schedule is completed, an announcement will be made to all schools and posted on the UIL Web site.
We wish to thank countless numbers of school administrators, coaches and parents for your unwavering support of the UIL.
More importantly, we thank you for continuing to offer competitive and performance opportunities and hope to the young people of this great state.