The Louisiana High School Athletic Association soon may be punted from the Louisiana Teachers’ Retirement System. For decades, the organization that regulates interscholastic athletics competition in every sport from baseball to wrestling at 389 public and private schools in the state was viewed as quasi-public, subject to open meetings laws, legislative audits, and any laws directed its way.
In January, however, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled the organization founded in 1920 by a group of principals has always been a private entity, not subject to legislative oversight. The LHSAA promptly issued a press release hailing the ruling, noting that it freed the organization from “the onerous burden of political meddling.”
But the relationship did have its benefits. Since 1991, the apparently private employees of LHSAA have been enrolled in the public teachers’ pension system. The practice of adding new LHSAA employees ended in July 2011, but a bill proposed for the upcoming legislative session would boot the existing beneficiaries as well, refunding only their employee contributions—without any interest earned or employer contributions.
Rep. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, says the Louisiana Teacher Retirement System—through no fault of its own—may be in violation of IRS regulations by having non-public employees in the pension system.
“It’s a little bit of a scary situation as far as the IRS is concerned,” Seabaugh says. “There are some questions of the legality of putting them in the Teacher Retirement System in the first place. We probably shouldn’t have, but we honestly, at the time it was done, thought they were quasi-public. The fact that the court has now ruled them to be private changes things.”
An LHSAA spokesman declined to comment on the proposed bill. To read HB 53, click here. The complete Louisiana Supreme Court opinion can be found here.
