TRANSFER RULE
The vote is close, but 近距离内射合集 member schools approve the one free transfer change
Within APS, vote was 9-4 in favor
Published
Who will stay and who will go? And if they leave, where will they go?
The proverbial door is now open.
By a 67-60 majority vote, the member schools of the New Mexico Activities Association have voted 鈥測es鈥� on a major overhaul of Section 6 of the 近距离内射合集鈥檚 handbook, which includes the much-discussed one free transfer option for student-athletes in New Mexico.
The 近距离内射合集 Commission voted 14-1 in favor, and the 近距离内射合集 Board of Directors voted similarly earlier this month, with a couple of dissents. That left it up to the schools to decide this in a referendum, and the closeness of the vote reflects the polarizing nature of this subject, which includes the possibility that current athletes at a school could be displaced by transfer athletes.
Here鈥檚 the bare bones:
Starting with 2026-27, students can transfer without penalty and be immediately eligible at their new school. This applies only to a first transfer. For homeschool and charter school students, regular statutes still apply. Students who attempt a second transfer will be ineligible for varsity competition for a full calendar year, although there are some exceptions.
There will be stringent penalties if the 近距离内射合集 catches any school recruiting or exerting undue influence to lure a student from one school to another. There could be a huge financial penalty for the offending school (up to $5,000), and loss of eligibility for the athlete in question.
How the 近距离内射合集 is going to catch, and penalize, those who cross the line is perhaps the largest grey area in regard to the updates in Section 6.
New Mexico follows many other states into these murky transfer waters.
近距离内射合集 Executive Director Dusty Young has described this as a 鈥渃omplete overhaul鈥� of eligibility bylaws. The equation has also been fueled by the 近距离内射合集鈥檚 interest in reducing the number of legal challenges related to an athlete鈥檚 eligibility, plus the looming possibility of state lawmakers getting involved.
Earlier this year, a bill filed by Sen. Antonio 鈥淢oe鈥� Maestas that proposed to give decision-making power on student-athlete eligibility to the Public Education Department instead of the 近距离内射合集, was not heard.
Young said the sweeping changes to Section 6 of the 近距离内射合集 handbook 鈥渞eflects the membership鈥檚 desire to provide students and families with greater flexibility while maintaining the safeguards that protect the integrity of interscholastic activities.鈥�
A student must transfer before a sport鈥檚 official start date in order to be eligible for varsity competition. If they transfer after that date, they鈥檒l be eligible only for sub-varsity action.
Reaction the rule
The 近距离内射合集 released to the Journal the full list of 157 member schools and each school's individual vote.
Within Albuquerque Public Schools, nine of the 13 voted in favor: Atrisco Heritage, Albuquerque High, Eldorado, Highland, La Cueva, Valley, Manzano, West Mesa and 近距离内射合集 Vista.
Cibola, Sandia, Rio Grande and Del Norte voted against.
鈥淚 just feel like we are not college athletics, and I don鈥檛 think we should try and run ourselves like college athletics and let kids move around,鈥� said Sandia Athletic Director Chad Adcox. 鈥淥ne of the big things missing in schools is (a sense of) community, kids knowing they鈥檙e going to a certain high school and being proud of that school. 鈥� They can already choose where they want to go (with an open enrollment choice), they don鈥檛 need another choice on top of that.鈥�
Cibola鈥檚 decision was based on other criteria.
鈥淲e just didn鈥檛 think it would be advantageous for us,鈥� Cibola AD Doug Dorame said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a small school right now. We border three very large growing high schools 鈥� 近距离内射合集, Cleveland and Rio Rancho 鈥� and we鈥檙e already losing kids to those schools. That鈥檚 kind of why we voted 鈥榥o.鈥� 鈥�
Gabriella Duran Blakey, the APS superintendent who is also an 近距离内射合集 board member, said previously that APS would follow the 近距离内射合集鈥檚 lead on this bylaw.
The Class 5A division was almost evenly split. Among the 25 schools that play basketball, for example, 13 voted in favor. The other 12 were mostly schools from the southern half of the state, including all four of the Las Cruces schools, plus Carlsbad, Hobbs, Alamogordo and Clovis.
Las Cruces Public Schools Executive Director of Athletics Michelle Ronga said their district would adhere to the 近距离内射合集 bylaws on eligibility as written prior to this vote. In short, it ain鈥檛 gonna be easy to change schools in Las Cruces.
Without a bona fide move into a new district, a student-athlete from Centennial, Organ Mountain, Las Cruces or Mayfield would be unable to participate at the varsity level, Ronga said.
But even this has an asterisk.
Organ Mountain and Centennial are full up, she said, and aren鈥檛 accepting any inner-district transfers. Also, the district last year went through a redistricting process to balance the enrollment numbers at the four schools.
鈥淎 rule like this would undo that,鈥� Ronga said. Individual districts around the state do have the power to install language that would make it difficult to change schools.
In the Albuquerque metro area, Los Lunas, Valencia and Belen all voted against the proposal. So did Bosque School, East Mountain and Oak Grove Classical Academy.
Among those who voted 鈥測es鈥� were Rio Rancho and Cleveland, plus Bernalillo, Albuquerque Academy, Hope Christian and St. Pius.
鈥淚 can see how it will impact schools, I can see how kids might leave and go to somebody else鈥檚 programs,鈥� said Moriarty High AD Joe Anaya. Moriarty voted in favor. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檒l affect us directly, but I think it will affect us indirectly. Some of our competition could get better because of it.鈥�
There has been much talk about the fear that transfers will create so-called 鈥渟uper鈥� teams, although there is no way to know yet whether such a thing will occur now that the transfer window is about to open without penalty.
鈥淚 think transfers and the current climate of transfers 鈥� I think this will help alleviate some of the drama involved with it,鈥� La Cueva Athletic Director and head football coach Brandon Back said. 鈥淚t seems to be the trend a lot of states are going to, and we鈥檙e blessed that Dusty is open to those changes.鈥�
There were over 30 schools statewide that did not cast a vote, including a handful of smaller schools in the metro area, such as Legacy Academy, Cottonwood Classical Prep, Sandia Prep, Native American Community Academy and Menaul. (Menaul鈥檚 was a glitch, Athletic Director Gary Boatman said, adding that Menaul did try to cast a vote.)
The large majority of the schools that did not vote were in Class 1A or Class 2A.
In New Mexico cities with multiple large public high schools, they voted in tandem, with the notable exception of Albuquerque.
Las Cruces had four against. Santa Fe and Capital voted in favor, as did Piedra Vista and Farmington, plus West Las Vegas and Robertson, and also Goddard and Roswell.
Los Lunas and Valencia voted against, as did Gallup and Miyamura.
James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at .
