UIL cutoff numbers: Marble Falls, Burnet to remain in Class 4A

CAPTION: The Burnet Bulldogs and the Marble Falls Mustangs will remain in Class 4A for the next two years. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

The University Interscholastic League released the cutoff numbers for realignment for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years around lunchtime Dec. 16.

Both Burnet Consolidated Independent School District and Marble Falls Independent School District will remain in Class 4A.

Marble Falls submitted 1,172, while Burnet turned in 985. Officials at both school districts believed both would remain in Class 4A.

The UIL, which is the governing body of extracurricular activities at public schools, made it official when it announced that Class 4A would include high schools with enrollments of between 550 students and 1,304 students. That means the classification will include at 205 football, 220 volleyball and 217 basketball programs.

The UIL also announced that football programs at high schools with enrollments of 896-1,304 will play in Division I those with enrollments between 550-895 will compete in Division II.

Burnet CISD athletic director Grant Freeman, who took over the department during the summer, said the UIL gave a heads-up on the number of schools in each division.

“I am a little shocked that number dropped more than I thought it would,” he said “They kind of warned us that it could. I guess I’m just a little shocked at how much it did, but I am pleased that they kind of evened the schools out.”

He pointed out that Class 4A Division I has 103 schools and Division II has 102 schools. But that also was the case in almost every classification.

“That’s the first time in a while, I think, it’s been that balanced across the conferences and across the class for the divisions,” Freeman said. “That’s a positive.”

He thinks the reason for the balance is because of where the state is experiencing growth and where it isn’t.

“We have a really weird demographic problem,” he said. “Our big schools are getting enormous. And there’s a huge gap between the next levels. I’ll give you a great example. The one division that’s been really weird this year is 5A Division I and 5A Division II. There are 127 5A Division I schools and 119 5A Division II schools – that is way off from what it normally is. They’re not as balanced as everybody else is, and I think that shows you what’s happening in the state. You’re having a lot of kids go either homeschool or private school with the new laws, and we’ve got a lot of places in our metropolitan areas that people are growing out and moving. So it’s good that we adjust every two years to the trends. This is just what happens and it just kind of gets thrown off every now and then.”

So what could that possibly mean for Burnet CISD athletics?

“Here’s where my mind goes,” he said. “We are one of very few school districts in the entire state that competes in different regions. Our football team competes in Region I, all of our other sports compete in Region III. What I think this does or has the potential to do — now again, we’ll find out in February — but I do think that this realignment allows us to all compete in the same region. Hopefully, I’m lobbying that out there to you. Hopefully, they’ll region us in the same region now instead of competing across regions.”  

What could that mean for football?

“What we keep hearing — and this is what we keep hearing floated — is that they will separate us from Lampasas, take us and Marble Falls and go south if the Austin (Independent School District) schools don’t opt up (to Class 5A),” Freeman said. “They have not said whether they are opting up or are going to stay the same yet. And that’s kind of what everybody’s sitting here waiting on. If they stay down, I can see us and Marble Falls going with them. If they opt up, I would assume we will go back with Marble Falls and Lampasas, and we’ll go back north to Region I. Now that’s a total assumption. But I think that’s what it’s hinging.” 

If the Austin ISD schools stay Class 4A, a possible district, Freeman said, includes Austin Eastside, Austin LBJ, Austin Northeast, Austin Travis, Burnet, Fredericksburg and Marble Falls. Jarrell and Austin Achieve might also be in the mix.

“Again, I don’t know what’s going to happen or what they’re going to do,” he said. “That in and of itself would be a good district for us. Now, I don’t know for Marble Falls, but that in and of itself would be a very competitive district for us.”  

He noted traveling in football isn’t as much of a consideration because members are already separated into Division I and Division II before the playoffs begin.

“(The UIL’s) mindset is they’ll stretch it a little further for that just because it’s already divisioned,” Freeman said. “Generally their mindset is ‘hey, we’re already separating this out because we can put people together that are big and small,’ and so it doesn’t have to be as far apart in the other schools.” 

The UIL will release realignment in February 2026. School districts have no more than 30 days to decide and appeal if they want to get into a different district. The UIL allows school districts to move up in classification. But school districts that want to move down must explain why such as major shifts in student population or correcting errors.

“I’m interested to see what’s going to happen,” Freeman said. “They could also grab Lampasas, us, Marble Falls, Stephenville, (San Angelo) Lake View and Fredericksburg, and make a district or China Spring. There’s a lot of options there.”