On Thursday morning, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Board of Directors voted 11-1 to move the remaining Rural classification schools into Class 1A for the next two years.

This applies only to football.

FHSAA Executive Director Craig Damon had called for an emergency meeting after only 16 of the 38 FHSAA member schools participating in the FHSAA State Series remained in the Rural Class.

According to FHSAA Policy 12.3.2.1, there must be a minimum of 24 schools committed in order to have the Rural Class.

This will require a realignment of Class 1A and the creation of a couple of new districts and the addition of area teams to existing districts.

“The rural schools that want to be part of the state series can now do so,” said Damon, who noted that about 13 or 14 of the Rural teams were ready to be placed in a district.

Board Member Ricky Bell was the only one to oppose, offering “an 80% rule” proposal where if a school gets more than five transfers in a year, they go to Class 1A and the rest of them stay in Rural.

Damon said he had reached out to most of the Rural schools to get feedback.

“Some of them are embracing going to 1A because it will provide a district for them,” he said. “Comments that I received was that, right now, in our past structure with the Rural class, there was nothing to play for if you’re not a state contender. Going to 1A, being placed in a district with teams, allowed them the possibility of winning a district championship, also competing for a regional championship, if they were good enough…

“Some of the schools that were looking to go elsewhere are sort of happy about being placed in a district because now, with those three or four schools, or five schools in the district, they compete against at the beginning year, they can tell their team, their players, that if we were in these four games, we’re district champs, so they’re competing for something.”

In the past, with the Rural class, “It was either you played for the state championship or you really played for nothing because there weren’t any districts or regions,” Damon said.

Several member schools, including Mainstreet area teams Branford, Trenton and Union County (Lake Butler), left the FHSAA Rural classification after the 2025 season to compete in football in the Sunshine State Athletic Association (SSAA).

Dixie County (Cross City), which was an independent, also left the FHSAA to join the SSAA prior to the hiring of new football coach Andrew Thomas.

Area teams that this new move to 1A will affect include Rural state champion Hawthorne, state semifinalist Chiefland, regional finalist Williston and Florida Invitational Tournament (FIT) champion Fort White.

It’s possible some of those teams could be placed in their own district or join other districts that include teams in Jacksonville, like Trinity Christian and University Christian.

In December, the FHSAA released its tentative football classifications. When they were last updated on Dec. 18, there were a total of 37 Class 1A schools and a total of 11 districts.

“It may cause us to add some new districts,” Damon said during the meeting. “Right now, we have eight districts in Class 1A. There are about 33 schools that are committed to 1A, so adding these 16 above that class, up to approximately 50 schools, gives us the flexibility to expand to possibly 10, maybe 11-12 districts, as opposed to the eight that we have right now.”

The Board also voted 12-0 to allow the creation of an independent league under FHSAA authority, giving independent schools the option to participate with the potential for postseason play.

“We listened to our member schools, and they made it clear this move would create a more even playing field and give them something to play for,” Damon added.

The FHSAA will provide updated classification details to schools in the coming weeks.