Louisiana Principals Overwhelmingly Vote to Support High School Officials

At the LHSAA Annual Meeting held in Baton Rouge on January 28, 2022 the Louisiana Principals Association passed, with 85% of votes in favor, a new fee structure for all LHSOA officials.  The new structure will be effective with the Fall 2022 sports season and not only grants raises to all officials but also puts in place a new mechanism that we believe will make our officials’ fees competitive for years to come.  The new fee schedule can be found here.

As background, the adopted plan used the average fees paid officials across NFHS Section 3 as its base and revises LA fees accordingly (including a $10 cap on any adjustment).  The states comprising NFHS Section 3include : AL, MS, FL, GA, SC, NC, TN, & LA.  The adopted plan adjusts fees for all 7 of our sports because fees for all 7 of our sports currently fall below the average fees paid across Section 3 states.  We believe the first-of-its-kind automatic adjustment mechanism was supported because it was the first objective, data-based pay proposal ever submitted for Louisiana high school officials.  The new mechanism calls for a bi-annual review of fees using the same analysis that established the new 2022 fees.  The next review period will be in March 2023 with any fee adjustments effective in the Fall of 2024. 

The LHSOA leadership team believes the significant level of support from the Principals Association reflects their recognition of the important role high school officials have in providing safe and fair competition for all Louisiana high school athletes.  Finally, our leadership team acknowledges the hard work by our officials to improve their skills and professionalism, and commitment even in the face of a worldwide pandemic and more locally, devasting storms.  We know everyone will continue to provide the very best in high school officiating and we know everyone joins us in thanking the Principals Association for this strong show of support.