RENTON, Wash. - The WIAA Executive Board finalized classification numbers for the 2020-24 cycle at its January 26 meeting. A complete listing of each of the six WIAA classifications can be seen below.
COMPLETE CLASSIFICATIONS
Beginning with the 2020-24 classification cycle, schools will be assigned a classification based on pre-set enrollment thresholds as opposed to sorting schools into six evenly distributed classifications.
| Classification |
Enrollment Ranges |
Number of Schools |
| 4A |
1300+ |
51 |
| 3A |
900-1299 |
79 |
| 2A |
450-899 |
62 |
| 1A |
225-449 |
60 |
| 2B |
105-224 |
61 |
| 1B |
1-104 |
85 |
| Schools Offering Sport |
State Tournament Entries |
| 84+ |
24 |
| 69-83 |
20 |
| 50-68 |
16 |
| 37-49 |
12 |
| 20-36 |
8 |
| 19 or less |
Combine with smallest
classification above or below |
The Board approved a two-year adjustment of the range for a 16-entry tournament. The range for a 16-entry tournament is now 50-68 member schools. This was done to ensure schools that opted up and/or landed in classifications affected by appeals, would not be negatively impacted due to the appeal process.
For the first time in WIAA history, free-and-reduced lunch counts were factored into the classification process as well. A school with a free and reduced lunch rate greater than the statewide average (47%) had its enrollment number reduced for each percent that they exceed the statewide average except at the 1B and 2B classification level. The maximum a school’s enrollment could be adjusted was capped at 40%. Both of those changes were passed by the WIAA Representative Assembly in January of 2019.
The figures listed for each school are the average enrollment, P223 of students in grades 9-11, as reported to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) for the months of January, February, March, April, May, October, and November doubled (eight total counts). November is counted twice since the September figure is omitted due to the amount of changes to the student population a school experiences during the first month of the new school year. Private schools report monthly enrollments directly to the WIAA.
While enrollment figures set the baseline for classification alignments, a school can affect its classification in several ways. A school can opt up in classification, appeal its classification, or petition down a classification in football only. While any choice to opt-up will last the entirety of the four-year classification cycle, an appeal or petition down stands for two years, which is the next time schools will have the option to appeal classification.
In total, 46 schools chose to opt-up in classification while the WIAA District Directors and the WIAA Executive Board approved the classification appeal of ten schools and accepted the petition of nine schools petitioning down in football only.
For questions about enrollment or the classification process, please contact the WIAA office.