Texas UIL Debuts Realignment For 2026-2028 Seasons

THE WOODLANDS – Every 2 years, Texas high school sports see changes as the UIL realigns certain districts to better fit the current environment. Last week, the Texas UIL held its meeting to discuss these changes and review which schools would be moved to better reflect their enrollment numbers. While some meetings don’t change much, such as the 2024-2026 cycle, this time we saw a couple of changes that could shake things up for our local high school sports teams. Let’s go over some of these changes and what the landscape looks like moving forward. But first, let's walk through what realignment even means and why UIL does this on a biannual basis.

What is UIL Realignment?

Things are ever-changing in the high school sports world; enrollment numbers continue to rise as areas become more developed, and some brand-new schools are built to ease the spiking numbers in larger schools. To help make sure everyone is on an equal playing field, the Texas UIL, the head of high school sports in Texas, realigns districts and tweaks rules for sports like football, volleyball, and basketball to match the current environment. These teams fall into 6 basic categories, usually based on enrollment numbers rather than athletic history or merit, giving us conferences 1-6A. 1A is the lowest conference, consisting of schools with 105 students or fewer enrolled, while 6A is the top conference, with schools that have enrollment numbers of 2215 or more. During these meetings, the UIL looks at all the schools in Texas and aligns them into the conference that fits their enrollment number. Some schools, like DeSoto, were moved down from 6A to 5A, as their enrollment has dropped since last realignment, while schools like Prosper Walnut Grove moved up from 5A to 6A as the school has grown significantly in the last 2 years. All this to say, changes are inevitable, and no district was left untouched in this cycle, not even our own District 13.

6A District 13 Changes

While the changes weren’t drastic, some things were shaken up in our area's District 13. Most of the schools in the area, such as The Woodlands, Conroe, and College Park, are clearly in 6A, with some greatly exceeding the 2215 enrollment requirement for 6A. However, there were 9 schools in District 13 last cycle; due to the realignment, only 8 remain at the 6A level, as most other districts also moved from 9 to 8. The odd school out is New Caney, which moved down to Division 1 5A for the 2026-2028 seasons. The Eagles now land in District 9, which includes schools such as Lufkin, Beaumont Westbrook, and Port Arthur Memorial. The rest of District 13 stays the same, with The Woodlands, College Park, Oak Ridge, Conroe, Willis, Grand Oaks, Caney Creek, and Cleveland all remaining together in the district. This means we will now see more out-of-district games in upcoming seasons, as sports like football still require teams to play 10 games in 11 weeks, giving us 3 unique matchups to start the season, rather than the 2 we had before. This also makes district titles more competitive, as teams don’t have as many chances to make up for losses that could hurt their chances of a 1st-place finish. It should make for an interesting couple of seasons for sports like volleyball, basketball, and especially football, with a chance to shake things up from last season. If you want more info on the realignment and some of the other schools that moved around, check out the full notes from the meeting on UIL’s website.