Hmm don't get called old often and I am not even sure who I am a fan of?It never ceases to amaze me the number of people on this board (comprising mostly old local fans) can't see the forest for the trees.
You do realize that most school administrators - you know, the people that run the schools - don't even THINK about issues like this? Outside of maybe a few ADs and coaches (and a lot of sad old dads), nobody really cares. The school administrators are worried about educating students and their state testing/scoring data. They worry about enrollment (not from an athletic standpoint) and teachers and guidance and college admissions and things that are actually important to the education of high school kids. The kids that don't play don't care at all. The kids that play care about playing and care barely more. Do you really think a kid looks across the court at their opponent and thinks its not fair that we have to play those guys - we should be playing a closed enrollment school instead?
Seriously, you have no idea how ridiculous you sound.
What I would say is, yes, the top priority of a school should be educating kids! For all I care we can go full European model and have only club sports not associated with the school.
BUT if the state is going to offer sports for schools and there are going to be multiple divisions, then there needs to be a way to place schools in said divisions. I have just been spitballing ideas, because I don't believe enrollment alone is a great system and the current CB seems lacking to me.
When it comes to the kids caring, I am sure they don't, but as the adults in the room we can do try to create tournaments with evenly matched schools.
Additionally, schools may put athletics below academics (which is right), but when a levy is up for renewal will voters be more persuaded by a state championship trophy or by state test scores? Sadly, I think it is the latter. So yes, I do think schools overall care about creating athletics competition that allow the school to be successful - proof the 75 pages of conference shuffling for NWO on this site