Non-traditional schools hit record share of NCHSAA titles

The share of N.C. High School Athletic Association state championships won by non-traditional public schools slightly increased with the expansion to eight classifications.

Combining all state championships, 29.4% were won by non-traditional schools, including charters, parochials, and UNC system schools. The percentage broke last year’s record of 27.6%.

2025-26 was the first school year with eight classifications. The NCHSAA conducted championships with four classes for a half-century prior to that.

One difference with the realignment of schools into the eight classes was the change to an ADM-only process. ADM stands for average daily membership, a.ka. the size of the student body. The NCHSAA membership voted for this change as a part of the larger adjustment to Bylaw VI.

The 2025-26 NCHSAA state champions in every sport

For the realignment in 2021-25, the NCHSAA implemented a nationally unique formula.

The formula took into account three factors: the ADMs, a three-year average of State Cup scores, and a three-year average of Individual Student Percentages, or ISP. The ISP data displays the percentage of students who receive some form of government assistance. The association removed the highest ISP data point for each school to account for a few anomalies related to natural disasters.

Effectively, the realignment formula was implemented to catapult extraordinarily successful and wealthy schools to a higher classification and create more equal competition.

Without the formula, public schools and non-traditional schools with similar headcounts are pitted against one another. In other words, the new ADM-only requirement does not account for any advantage non-traditional schools might have over boundary-capped public schools.

For the most part, the realignment formula accomplished the desired effect.

In the two years leading up to its implementation, non-traditional schools were winning 25% of the state championships. Over the first three years of the formula’s implementation, the number steadily decreased to 23.3%, 20.9%, and 18.2%. For the 2024-25 school year, the last with the formula, the percentage increased to 27.6%, thanks to Cardinal Gibbons’ eight total state championships. The Crusaders won a third of all 4A state championships that school year, a record. Of course, there was nothing the formula failed to account for here, as Gibbons was already in the largest classification.

But with the loss of the formula, the percentage instantly increased. Cardinal Gibbons, which asked to be moved up to 7A, still did its thing, winning five championships.

It should be noted that, with the number of championships doubled, many traditional public schools seized an opportunity to win a state championship this year that they might not have had with four classes. The overall number of championships increased for both traditional public schools and non-traditional schools.

In 2025-26, 127 state championships were won by traditional public schools, and 53 were won by non-traditional public schools. In 2024-25, there were 63 total championships for traditional schools and 24 for non-traditional schools.

We’ve been tracking this stat for the past eight years. Here is a table with a full breakdown of the numbers.

Want to get your high school sports news faster? Download the new and improved HighSchoolOT app! You'll be able to find the content you want faster and have access to breaking news alerts.

Download the all-new HighSchoolOT App today