Lawmakers in West Virginia are looking to change the state's high school transfer rules after a 2023 decision allowed athletes to transfer one time without losing a year of eligibility.
"There will never be a consensus or 100% agreement, but my perception is most coaches, administrators at the public schools agree that the rule just seems too wide open now," Del. JB Akers, R-Kanawha told WCHS. "I just think we need to take a look at it and try to make some positive changes."
The transfer rule has been contested by multiple parents and coaches, and now lawmakers are having a closer look.
"I think one of the things we have to ask ourselves when we're trying to figure out what the ultimate version of this rule should be is what's the purpose of a public community school? What's the purpose of the team sports in those schools, and they're not about pure individualism," Akers said. "Sports are supposed to be a metaphor for life."
A sponsored bill introduced in 2025 that would limit transfers didn't pass. That bill would have allowed students to transfer out of their home school during their freshman and sophomore years.
"Those were underclass years, so those are times when the students are trying to feel out where they want to be and trying to get in the right coaching environment and such," said Dana Ferrell, the sponsor of that bill. "So they're still underclassmen. It's not like in that case, you're trying to load up an all-star team or pack the roster. After that, once they're going into their junior year, senior year, there's no transfer out like that."
Ferrell believes the current bill puts many schools at a disadvantage.
"You take a school that's on the edge of a population center. It's a tougher thing for them to attract and recruit students there than it is a more centrally located school in a more urban area," Ferrell said. "So those schools are at a disadvantage right out of the gates because it's just much a much tougher deal for them to be able to get transfers."
Ferrell hopes to add a new rule that would allow students to transfer back to their original school if the change didn't work out.
"Our goal was to try to encourage them to play in their home community and for their home school," he said. "Sometimes kids get over there, maybe they thought the grass was greener on the other side and realize that now they want to be back and playing with their friends and from a hometown and community. This would allow them to be able to do that."
