Georgia's highest class next 2years, 6A

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GHSA places schools in classes for next two-year cycle

NOV 1 

WRITTEN BY TODD HOLCOMB

City and private schools took a hit in reclassification two years ago with a new 3.0 multiplier. They are probably smiling today.

The Georgia High School Association on Wednesday placed its 457 member schools into classifications for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years, and some larger county public schools got the worst of it.

Nineteen schools are moving into the highest classification, now called Class 6A and containing 64 football-playing schools instead of the current 45. All are from county or multiple-high-school districts.

The 19 are Alexander, Alpharetta, Arabia Mountain, Chapel Hill, Douglas County, Effingham County, Etowah, Grovetown, Heritage-Conyers, Houston County, New Manchester, Newnan, North Atlanta, North Forsyth, Paulding County, Rockdale County, Shiloh, South Cobb and Tift County. They may appeal.

Milton is the only school currently in the highest class assigned to a lower one. Milton got a similar assignment in 2021 and petitioned to play in the highest class.

City schools Buford, Carrollton, Marietta and Valdosta are slated to remain in the highest class, but Gainesville, Dalton and Rome will be in 5A, one from the top. They’re currently in 6A, one from the top, but likely relieved that they didn’t get a promotion into the expanded highest class.

Jefferson and Calhoun, city schools currently in 5A, will go down to 3A. Thomasville went from 3A to Class A Division I.

The larger private schools also got favorable reclass outcomes.

Current 6A schools St. Pius, Blessed Trinity and Marist ended up in Class 4A. Slated for 3A are Greater Atlanta Christian (currently in 5A) and Benedictine and Westminster (both 4A). Lovett was moved to 2A from 4A. Woodward Academy, at 5A, is set to be the only private school in either of the two highest classes.

New for the next cycle, private schools falling in classes 3A to A will compete for their own state titles separate from public schools, though they will be together for the regular season. Larger schools that fall in 3A-A, such as Westminster, GAC and Lovett, might petition to play up in 4A. So might Holy Innocents’ and Trinity Christian, which did so in 2021.

The 3.0 multiplier, instituted in 2021 for the current class cycle, counted out-of-zone students three times when determining classification. The multiplier was voted in to mitigate the winning ways of city and private schools, which get a higher percentage of their students outside the school zones. That’s deemed an unfair competitive advantage to some.

For this reclassification, schools did not have to apply the 3.0 multiplier to out-of-zone students who began at their schools in the fifth grade or earlier. Private schools were allowed to choose their attendance zone rather than take the one of the public school where they are located.

Those changes probably allowed city and public schools to avoid harsher class assignments this time around. In the most extreme case, St. Pius had 1,060 out-of-zone students in 2021 but only 348 under the new rules.

These classifications are not final. Schools have a week to appeal their assignments. Following that, the GHSA will place schools into regions.

Below are the schools in each class.

Key: School - Enrollment total (enrollment/out-of-zone students) Current classification.

Class 6A

Brookwood - 4518 (3880/319) Current: 7

Innovation Academy - 4329 (1443/1443) Current: 6

Grayson - 3722 (3480/121) Current: 7

Lambert - 3671 (3201/235) Current: 7

Campbell - 3654 (3030/312) Current: 7

East Coweta - 3584 (3108/238) Current: 7

Peachtree Ridge - 3524 (3304/110) Current: 7

Parkview - 3491 (3279/106) Current: 7

Wheeler - 3368 (2380/494) Current: 7

Lowndes - 3338 (3210/64) Current: 7

North Cobb - 3325 (2521/402) Current: 7

Osborne - 3313 (2773/270) Current: 7

North Gwinnett - 3245 (3067/89) Current: 7

Arabia Mountain - 3240 (1272/984) Current: 5

Archer - 3221 (3073/74) Current: 7

Berkmar - 3185 (3089/48) Current: 7

North Paulding - 3152 (3052/50) Current: 7

Cherokee - 3147 (3011/68) Current: 7

Rockdale County - 3119 (2391/364) Current: 6

Westlake - 3108 (2156/476) Current: 7

Central Gwinnett - 3054 (2444/305) Current: 7

Forsyth Central - 3013 (2387/313) Current: 7

South Forsyth - 2992 (2508/242) Current: 7

Pebblebrook - 2990 (2574/208) Current: 7

Discovery - 2958 (2730/114) Current: 7

Denmark - 2928 (2490/219) Current: 7

West Forsyth - 2876 (2464/206) Current: 7

Mill Creek - 2855 (2745/55) Current: 7

Marietta - 2826 (2654/86) Current: 7

Camden County - 2780 (2776/2) Current: 7

Duluth - 2758 (2666/46) Current: 7

Meadowcreek - 2736 (2640/48) Current: 7

Walton - 2723 (2685/19) Current: 7

Richmond Hill - 2720 (2650/35) Current: 7

South Gwinnett - 2700 (2588/56) Current: 7

Collins Hill - 2667 (2605/31) Current: 7

Valdosta - 2620 (2496/62) Current: 7

Douglas County - 2617 (1907/355) Current: 6

Colquitt County - 2614 (2586/14) Current: 7

Dacula - 2608 (2534/37) Current: 7

Newton - 2597 (2563/17) Current: 7

Hillgrove - 2586 (2290/148) Current: 7

Etowah - 2491 (2449/21) Current: 6

Norcross - 2489 (2395/47) Current: 7

Paulding County - 2476 (2116/180) Current: 6

McEachern - 2436 (2300/68) Current: 7

Mountain View - 2405 (2285/60) Current: 7

Harrison - 2396 (2170/113) Current: 7

Chapel Hill - 2377 (1665/356) Current: 5

South Cobb - 2375 (2137/119) Current: 6

North Atlanta - 2374 (2332/21) Current: 6

Kennesaw Mountain - 2366 (1666/350) Current: 7

Carrollton - 2307 (1825/241) Current: 7

Alexander - 2294 (1844/225) Current: 6

Tift County - 2290 (2266/12) Current: 6

Newnan - 2280 (2246/17) Current: 6

Buford - 2277 (1923/177) Current: 7

New Manchester - 2269 (1921/174) Current: 6

Heritage (Conyers) - 2253 (1803/225) Current: 5

Effingham County - 2250 (2146/52) Current: 6

North Forsyth - 2240 (2080/80) Current: 6

Shiloh - 2224 (2200/12) Current: 6

Houston County - 2218 (2116/51) Current: 6

Grovetown - 2214 (2184/15) Current: 6

Alpharetta - 2208 (2084/62) Current: