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Public vs. Private: New York's Section One to review amending constitution to split private schools from playoff competition

IMG_8358by: Andy Villamarzo04/21/26Andy_Villamarzo

Some potential movement in how the state of New York approaches private and public schools might be seeing change on the horizon, according to a report. Section One Athletic Council has an important meeting later this week that could impact the Empire State’s private vs. public debate.

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First reported by GameDay-One’s Kevin Devaney Jr., Section One of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) this week will review a proposed amendment to “make non-public schools ineligible for postseason play.” Schools within that New York section that would be impacted would be Nanuet (NY) Albertus Magnus, New Rochelle (NY) The Ursuline School, Purchase (NY) Keio Academy Of New York and Leffell.

What the potential amendment would do is leave the four aforementioned schools ineligible to participate in the NYSPHSAA playoffs, but still able to compete in a non-public sectional postseason.

Sections have been told that they have until April 24th, this upcoming Friday, to decide on whether they want to completely separate public and non-public, charter schools for postseason competition or not.

This all comes on the heels of recently seeing teams like Cicero-North Syracuse, Henninger, Liverpool, Rome Free Academy and Thomas R Proctor decide to leave the NYSPHSAA’s Class AA Tier 1 division for Tier 2 to avoid regularly scheduling games against perennial state powerhouse Syracuse Christian Brothers Academy, according to a Syracuse.com report.

CBA has been the example of dominance in the state, winning three straight NYSPHSAA state championships and will open the 2026 season in a highly anticipated matchup against private school power Iona Preparatory School at the JMA Wireless Dome on Sept. 3.

New York public school coaches and administrators have long complained — often only in private — that Christian Brothers Academy, unbound by school district boundaries as a private institution, is able to draw top athletic talent from across the Syracuse metro area and the rest of Central New York. Many coaches argue the practice creates an uneven playing field.

“What they’ve done, I’m not gonna lie, it’s impressive to watch… They’re awesome, but you got a bunch of kids from all these teams that are going into games knowing you can’t win,” Thomas R Proctor head coach Steve Strife said via the report from March.

Friday’s decision by Section One could set off a seismic chain reaction around the Empire State when it comes to how many others start viewing how to handle private/public competition moving forward.

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