WHEELING – The WVSSAC Board of Directors approved a measure to re-classify West Virginia high schools into four classes instead of three on Wednesday, Dec. 20.

The previous Class-A, Class-AA, and Class-AAA system will be expanded into Class-A through Class-AAAA for the sports of football, boys and girls basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball and cheer. The new classification system will take effect beginning with the 2024-25 school year.

State schools were divided according to a scoring system which, according to a release from the board, “include an enrollment score, location score and economic score.”

The system uses a weighted formula based on each school’s three scores, with location score (10%) and economic score (10%) weighed less than enrollment score (80%).

From the WVSSAC 2023-24 Rules and Regulations handbook- the enrollment score uses enrollment data, the location score is calculated by finding the distance from the school to the closest city with a population of 10,000 or more, and the economic score is determined by first calculating a county score where the z-score of the county’s median household income is added to the z-score of the county’s poverty rate.

The new four-class system shakes up where local teams stand. Wheeling Park and John Marshall will be added to the new Class-AAAA, made up of 25 schools. Brooke and Weir will play in Class-AAA, made up of 30 schools. Oak Glen, Wheeling Central and Tyler will be in Class-AA, made up of 29 schools. Madonna, Magnolia, Cameron, Valley, Paden City and Hundred will be in Class-A, made up of 41 schools.

Basketball had been operating as a four-class system since the 2020-2021 academic year, looking now like a test-run of sorts for all sports moving forward under the new classifications.

Classifications for sports not expanding to four classes- golf, swimming, tennis, cross country, track & field, soccer and wrestling- will be released at a later date.

The state football playoff bracket will remain at 16 teams in each of the new four classes. A four-year cycle of classifications will be in place through the end of the 2027-2028 school year. Regional and sectional groupings for each sport except football will also be released at a later date.