NORTH CAROLINA — High school sports in North Carolina could be under new guidelines and oversight as early as 2022.

Tuesday, state legislators discussed House Bill 91. It's a bill that would essentially dissolve the North Carolina High School Athletic Association and replace it with a 17-member commission.

The commission would oversee public and charter school athletics, but not private schools.  As a result, private schools would not be included in state championship competitions. Private schools could still compete with public and charter schools during regular season play.

The bill would also allow for home-schooled students to participate in athletic competition for their "home base" school where they live.

Under the proposed legislation, the NCHSAA would oversee high school sports for the upcoming school year, however, the new commission rules would need to be adopted by Feb. 15, 2022.

The legislation comes on the heels of an investigation over the past several months by the state legislature into the NCHSAA, and its finances.  Senator Todd Johnson (R-Union County), the author of the bill, says he tried several times to connect with the association and fix these issues, but got nowhere.

"There hasn't been any good-faith effort that we have seen other than a $4 million dispersement back during the COVID, and maybe some changes to the endowment game, which in my opinion, is smoke and mirrors," Johnson said Tuesday.  "Had we seen movement toward a shared goal of keeping that student-athlete focus, I do not think we would be here today."

NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker disagreed with that statement.

"To say that we have been uncooperative, is simply not true," Tucker said Tuesday night.  "Anytime they have asked me for information, we have provided it.  I was a little taken aback by that statement, but as past president [Jerry] Simmons has said, we have wanted to work with the General Assembly.  We can only do that when we are invited to come to the table to share information, so that we can work together in a partnership."

A committee could vote on the bill as early as Wednesday. The NCHSAA was founded in 1913.