A proposal to overhaul the governance of high school sports and activities in Oklahoma hasquicklybecomeone of the most talked-about pieces of legislation at the state Capitol this session. Senate Bill 1890, filed by Republican Sen. Casey Murdock, seeks to dissolve the longstanding Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) and replace it with a state-run oversight body, igniting debate among lawmakers, educators, parents and sports officials.
Introduced on February 2, the bill aims to create the Oklahoma Athletics and Activities Commission, a 19-member body charged with setting competition rules, determining eligibility requirements and scheduling for school athletic and extracurricular activities. Supporters said the measure responds to growing frustration with OSSAA’s authority and seeks to make oversight more transparent and accountable to the public.
Under the current proposal, commission members would include school administrators, athletic directors and parents representing both large and small public and private schools, with appointments made by the governor, the Senate president pro tempore and the House speaker. The push for change gained momentum after Governor Kevin Stitt used his final State of the State address to call for an end to the OSSAA, calling the privately governed association “unelected and unaccountable.”
Stitt and the bill’s backers particularly cited transfer rules that can require students moving between districts to sit out of sports for a full year, an issue that recently triggered legal challenges and unhappy families.
“In my view, the OSSAA has lost sight of who they are working for, and it’s our kids,” Murdock said, echoing concerns that the association’s policies sometimes place obstacles between studentathletes and opportunities to participate.
The new commission, supporters argue, would be subject to the Oklahoma Open Meeting and Open Records Acts,bringingstatetransparency standards to decisions that affect thousands of students. Critics, including leaders within the OSSAA, have pushed back against the proposal, noting that the association is a voluntary membership organization of 482 schools and that most transfer requests already are approved.
OSSAA representatives have called for dialogue with state officials to clarify how the organization operates and how it serves its member schools. As of this week, Senate Bill 1890 is pending before the Senate Education Committee, with no hearing date yet announced.
If enacted, the law would take effect in time to begin thetransitiontothenewcommission ahead of the 2027-28 school year, marking what could be the most significant restructuring of high school sports governance in Oklahoma in more than a century.