# Georgia High School Association

The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) is an organization that governs athletics and activities for member high schools in Georgia, USA. GHSA is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations. The association has 463 public and private high schools as members. GHSA organizes all sports and academic competitions as well as overseeing registration, training, and approves local area sports officials associations to administer regional athletics and activities per member schools.

## Membership

Membership to the GHSA is voluntary and open to every high school in the state of Georgia, although participating private schools must have at least 150 students in their high school. Many private schools that do not enter the GHSA compete in the interscholastic organization of the Georgia Independent School Association (GISA). Member schools of the GHSA make most decisions by appointing region representatives who vote on proposals in the GHSA Executive Committee. Individual decisions by regions are made by the schools in the region on such issues as region tiebreakers and hosting of region tournaments. Members are divided into seven classes by size and then further divided into regions based on geographic locations.

## History

At least one prior organization was integrated into the GHSA. The Georgia Interscholastic Association (GIA) was a school sports league in Georgia. It was integrated into the GHSA in 1970.
The Big 7 Conference included large high schools for African American students in Georgia. The GIA was an expansion of this league that came include county high schools around the state.
As If We Were Ghosts is a documentary film made about the GIA and its athletes.

## Classifications – Regions

The GHSA currently has six classes, AAAAAA, AAAAA, AAAA, AAA, AA, and A, (called "6A", 5A", "4A", "3A", "2A", and "1A") based on the schools' student population. Each class has eight regions, numbered 1 through 8, based on the geographic location of the schools involved. Region 1 of each class is usually the southernmost region, with the region numbers generally increasing as one moves north. Regions realign every two years. Regions generally have ten schools, but can range from 4 to 16 teams.
Class 5A was created for the 2000-2001 school year. Class 6A was created for the 2012–2013 school year and Class 7A for the 2016–2017 school year to accommodate growth in local schools.
In late 2023, GHSA announced that they would be doing away with the "7A" classification for the 2024-2026 cycle. They have yet to state whether or not this will be a permanent change.

## Competitions
### Athletics

Boys athletics governed by the GHSA are: baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, lacrosse, riflery (co-ed), soccer, swimming, tennis, track, and wrestling. Girls athletics programs overseen by the GHSA include basketball, competition cheerleading (co-ed & non co-ed), cross country, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, riflery, fast pitch softball, slow pitch softball, soccer, swimming, tennis, track, volleyball, and wrestling.

### Other

Literary activities administered by the GHSA are dramatic interpretation, essay, GHSA Debate, extemporaneous speaking, one act plays, quartet, spelling, trio and vocal solo.
The GHSA has also added Esports as an event.

## List of schools

For the 2024–2025 season, GHSA has 457 member schools.
List by class and region :
| Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Count |
| 6A | Camden County Colquitt County Lowndes Richmond Hill Tift County Valdosta | Carrollton Chapel Hill Douglas County East Coweta Westlake | Campbell Harrison Hillgrove McEachern Osborne Paulding County Pebblebrook South Cobb | Archer Grayson Grovetown Heritage, Conyers Newton Rockdale County South Gwinnett | Cherokee Etowah Marietta North Cobb North Paulding Walton Wheeler | Alpharetta Denmark Forsyth Central Innovation Academy Lambert North Atlanta North Forsyth South Forsyth West Forsyth | Berkmar Brookwood Duluth Meadowcreek Norcross North Gwinnett Parkview Peachtree Ridge | Buford Central Gwinnett Collins Hill Dacula Discovery Mill Creek Mountain View | 57 |
| 5A | Bradwell Institute Brunswick Effingham County Evans Glynn Academy Lakeside, Evans South Effingham Statesboro | Coffee Houston County Lee County Northside, Warner Robins Thomas County Central Veterans | Banneker Dutchtown Hughes Lovejoy McIntosh Morrow Newnan Northgate | Arabia Mountain Chamblee Decatur Dunwoody Lakeside, DeKalb Shiloh Tri-Cities Woodward Academy | Alexander East Paulding Kennesaw Mountain Lithia Springs New Manchester Rome South Paulding Villa Rica | Creekview Lassiter Pope River Ridge Riverwood Sequoyah Sprayberry Woodstock | Chattahoochee Gainesville Johns Creek Lanier Milton Roswell Seckinger | Alcovy Apalachee Clarke Central Habersham Central Jackson County Loganville Winder-Barrow | 61 |
| 4A | Benedictine New Hampstead Perry Ware County Warner Robins Wayne County | Eagle's Landing Eagle's Landing Christian Hampton Jones County Locust Grove McDonough Ola Stockbridge Union Grove Woodland, Stockbridge | Central, Carroll Griffin Harris County Jonesboro Mundy's Mill Northside, Columbus Starr's Mill | Creekside Drew Forest Park Jackson, Atlanta M.L. King Mays Midtown Pace Academy | Clarkston Cross Keys Druid Hills Lithonia Marist North Springs Northview Southwest DeKalb St. Pius X Tucker | Blessed Trinity Cambridge Centennial Kell Westminster | Allatoona Cartersville Cass Cedartown Dalton Hiram Southeast Whitfield Woodland, Cartersville | Cedar Shoals East Forsyth Eastside Flowery Branch Madison County North Oconee Walnut Grove | 61 |
| 3A | Bainbridge Cairo Dougherty Monroe Peach County Westover | Fayette County LaGrange Mary Persons Sandy Creek Spalding Trinity Christian Troup County Upson-Lee Whitewater | Beach Calvary Day School Groves Islands Jenkins Johnson, Savannah Liberty County Long County Southeast Bulloch Windsor Forest | Aquinas Baldwin Cross Creek Harlem Hephzibah Howard Richmond Academy West Laurens Westside, Augusta | Cedar Grove Douglass, Atlanta Luella Mt. Zion, Jonesboro North Clayton Riverdale Stephenson Stone Mountain | Chestatee Dawson County Greater Atlanta Christian Johnson, Gainesville Lumpkin County North Hall Pickens White County | Adairsville Calhoun Gilmer Heritage, Catoosa LaFayette Northwest Whitfield Ridgeland | Cherokee Bluff East Hall Jefferson Monroe Area Oconee County West Hall | 63 |
| 2A | Carver, Columbus Columbus Hardaway Jordan Kendrick Shaw Spencer Sumter County | Callaway Jackson Morgan County Pike County Rutland Westside, Macon | Appling County Cook Crisp County Pierce County Savannah Arts Academy Tattnall County | Burke County Butler Davidson Fine Arts Glenn Hills Johnson, Augusta Josey Laney Technical Career Magnet Thomson | Carver, Atlanta Coretta Scott King Academy Hapeville Holy Innocents' KIPP Atlanta Collegiate Lovett Therrell Washington | Columbia Drew Charter School Miller Grove Redan Salem South Atlanta | Coahulla Creek Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe Murray County North Cobb Christian North Murray Ringgold Rockmart Sonoraville Union County | East Jackson Franklin County Hart County Hebron Christian Academy Prince Avenue Christian Stephens County | 58 |
| 1ADivI | Bacon County Berrien Brantley County Fitzgerald Jeff Davis Thomasville Worth County | ACE Charter Bleckley County Central, Macon Dodge County Dublin East Laurens Jefferson County Northeast Southwest Washington County | Savannah Christian Savannah Country Day St. Vincent's Academy Swainsboro Toombs County Vidalia Woodville-Tompkins | Greenforest Christian Jasper County Lamar County McNair Putnam County Social Circle Towers Utopian Academy W.D. Mohammed | Atlanta International B.E.S.T. Academy Ben Franklin Academy DeKalb School of the Arts Fellowship Christian Galloway King's Ridge Landmark Christian Mount Vernon Mt. Bethel Christian Mt. Paran Christian Mt. Pisgah Christian Paideia St. Francis Walker Weber School Wesleyan Whitefield Academy | Bremen Darlington Haralson County Heard County Model Pepperell Temple | Armuchee Chattooga Christian Heritage Coosa Dade County Dalton Academy Fannin County Gordon Central Gordon Lee | Athens Academy Banks County Barrow Commerce Elbert County Oglethorpe County Providence Christian Rabun County | 76 |
| 1ADivII | Baconton Baker County Calhoun County Early County Miller County Mitchell County Pataula Charter Pelham Quitman County Randolph-Clay Seminole County Southwest Georgia STEM Spring Creek Stewart County Terrell County | Atkinson County Brooks County Charlton County Clinch County Echols County Irwin County Lanier County Turner County | Bryan County Claxton Emanuel County Institute Jenkins County McIntosh County Academy Metter Portal Savannah Savannah Classical Savannah Early College Screven County Steam Academy | Dooly County Hawkinsville Montgomery County Telfair County Treutlen Wheeler County Wilcox County | Georgia Academy for Blind Georgia Military College Georgia School for Innovation Glascock County Hancock Central Johnson County Stilwell Arts Twiggs County Wilkinson County | Central, Talbotton Chattahoochee County Crawford County Furlow Charter Macon County Marion County Rainey-McCullers Schley County Taylor County Webster County | Atlanta Classical Bowdon Elite Scholars Academy Fulton Leadership Academy Genesis Innovation Georgia Fugees Academy Georgia School for Deaf Greenville Manchester Mt. Zion, Carroll Northwest Classical Academy Trion | Greene County Lake Oconee Academy Lincoln County Taliaferro County Towns County Warren County Washington-Wilkes Woody Gap | 81 |