Unless something unforeseen happens, it looks like Decatur High School’s athletic programs will compete in the Class 3A division next fall.

According to enrollment numbers released by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) earlier this month, Decatur falls in well below the Class 4A cutoff with an enrollment of 1,018 students. To automatically qualify as a 4A program, a school must have an enrollment of over 1,200 students.

Decatur will most likely join the 3A division of the South Puget Sound League, which currently includes schools like Auburn Mountainview, Enumclaw, Sumner, Peninsula and Bonney Lake.

“There is a very strong possibility that we will participate in the 3A league of the SPSL,” Decatur High School athletic director Kelly Kirk said. “I would say there is a 90 percent chance right now. I met with parents and coaches throughout the fall sports season and gave people a chance to voice their concerns and it was nearly unanimous to go 3A.”

December 15 is the deadline for schools to decide whether they will “opt up” into another class, but all indications say Decatur will play as a 3A school at least through 2012, when school’s will be reclassified for the next time.

“The thing about it is, we can try it for two years and if we don’t like it we can opt up,” Kirk said. “If it’s too much of a burden in terms of costs, we can go back in two years.”

Thomas Jefferson, Beamer and Federal Way will remain as Class 4A schools. Jefferson (1,410 students) and Beamer’s (1,339) enrollment numbers fall above the 4A cutoff and Federal Way (1,206) has already informed the WIAA that they will “opt up” to remain a 4A school, no matter what the cutoff turns out to be.

It also looks like Des Moines’ Mount Rainier High School will take Decatur’s place as a 4A program in the SPSL. Mount Rainier, currently a 3A school in the Seamount League, has an enrollment of 1,495 students and has already applied to join the SPSL.

According to Kirk, the only downfall from dropping into the Class 3A division of the SPSL is a greater transportation cost that Decatur would be responsible for. In the Federal Way school district, the individual school’s Associated Student Body (ASB) has to cover transportation costs to extracurricular events.

Moving into the SPSL’s 3A division would cost Decatur an extra $8,500 a year because of the longer bus rides to places like Peninsula and Enumclaw, according to Kirk. Currently, Decatur’s ASB spends between $30,000 and $35,000 a year on transportation costs competing in the SPSL South Division.

On Jan. 4, the WIAA will release the list of the new classifications, but schools will have one last opportunity to opt up. The process of requiring schools to opt up before the final classification numbers are released is new this year.

There are a total of 387 member schools in Washington and the goal of the WIAA is to have an even number of schools in each classification.