Consider this: Pahrump Valley High School could be in a division with Las Vegas high schools Arbor View, Clark, Desert Oasis, Faith Lutheran, Legacy, Mojave and Western.

It will happen if a proposal by the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association is accepted by member schools. If approval happens, the changes could be put into effect as early as the 2009-2010 school year.

"It's a better thing than what we have now," Dan Lindgren, the PVHS athletics director, said Tuesday morning. "I think it will be better for our kids and that's what it should be about."

Pahrump Valley, for more than a decade a member of the Southern Nevada Class 3-A League, was shifted to the Sunset Region Southwest Class 4-A Division at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.

Trojans, for the most part, were highly competitive, especially in girls golf and volleyball; both teams made the playoffs last fall. In the winter, the girls' basketball team barely missed qualifying for the regionals, while the wrestlers made a run for the regular-season division title. This spring, the girls track team went undefeated against division rivals, while the boys golf team is a contender for Sunset regional honors.

The problem sports? Football and boys basketball; neither team won a division game. The boys soccer team, always in the chase for Southern and state laurels in Class 3-A, won 4 and tied 2 in 16 division starts. In baseball, the Trojans finished 5-11, including a three-game division winning streak, and one of their wins was against Durango. The boys track team held its own in dual matches against 4-A opponents and will have state qualifiers. The girls softball team finished 7-9 after a 3-8 start.

The idea was released by Eddie Bonine, the NIAA executive director, Monday; within a week after the association and the 17 county superintendents met in Reno to discuss how money can be saved and student-athletes could be better served.

Before some of today's high school athletes' parents were even born, Basic, Clark and Western competed for state titles in the highest-enrollment division.

The schools might not be the powerhouses they once were, but they've always been in what some consider the most prestigious of the NIAA classes, always competing against the biggest-name schools in the state.

But that might not be the case in the immediate future. The NIAA plan would reduce the current four-class format to three divisions and would knock 12 current and two planned Class 4-A members into the middle of the three divisions. The proposal could be put into place for next school year.

Football would be slightly different with the lowest-enrollment division being split into 11-man and 8-man football, based on enrollment figures.

The NIAA is asking schools for feedback and will forward it to the superintendents and its own Board of Control at a meeting June 16-17, at which time the proposal could be approved and take effect for next school year, delayed until 2010-11 or scrapped altogether.

"It has to be a top-down thing," said Faith Lutheran athletic director and boys basketball coach Bret Walter, a member of the Board of Control. "It has to come from the superintendents or it's never going to fly."

The NIAA also has proposed a reduction in game limits and in-season tournaments for most sports.

"We're ready to move on it right away," said Bonine. "If there's an overwhelming concern that we don't want to do this now, then we can delay or look in another direction."

The NIAA's current classes are based on school enrollment figures. The largest schools are in Class 4-A, the smallest in Class 1A.

Under the proposal, Arbor View, Basic, Canyon Springs, Clark, Chaparral, Del Sol, Desert Oasis, Legacy, Mojave, Pahrump Valley, Tech and Western would move to Division II, along with Faith Lutheran and a new Las Vegas high school, Sunrise Mountain, which were expected to be in 4-A next year.

"All we wanted always was a good league to play in," Walter said. "We'll be open to what's best for the state."

Current Class 3-A members Boulder City, Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley would round out the 17 Southern Nevada schools, which would be split into two regions. Pahrump Valley would be in Division II Sunset Region.

Division I would be comprised of 20 schools from Southern Nevada, also split into two regions, and 10 from Northern Nevada. An additional 13 Northern Nevada schools would play in Division II.

Bonine said his staff looked at the success some of the larger schools have had, especially over the course of the last two realignment cycles, in determining which 4-A members would move to Division II.

"It's not a perfect system," Bonine said. "My job is to look out for all member schools. There will obviously be some fallout."

All 12 of the southern schools that would make the move from Class 4-A to Division II have had success in at least one sport this season. Several, including Mojave, Western, Clark and Chaparral, have won a state title in the last decade.

"Every school has sports that they are good in. That's what makes it tough," Walter said. "It has to be give and take."

(Pahrump Valley, when it was in Class 3-A, won 12 state titles from 2001 through 2008: five in girls golf, three in softball, 2 in basketball, one in wrestling and one in girls track.)

In other sports, though, the same schools struggle to be competitive and would stand a greater chance of advancing to and through the postseason with the move.

Rivalries could also be affected.

Clark and Bonanza, separated by a few miles and a small handful of students, would no longer be league rivals. The same holds true for Basic and Green Valley, which would be in different divisions and might not be able to play their annual Henderson Bowl football game.

The impetus behind the realignment is saving money, especially among the smaller, more rural schools. Those schools often travel hundreds of miles for league games and have trouble scheduling nearby nonleague games.

Athletes miss class time and coaches, generally teachers at the school, also miss class, forcing the school district to pay extra money to hire a substitute.

"When we go to Tonopah or Round Mountain, we're pretty much gone all day," said Indian Springs athletic director Jamie Molloy. "You throw in substitute teachers and it gets expensive. One day we had six teachers out of school on trips."

The proposal should benefit Boulder City, Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley, which were expected to comprise a three-team 3-A league next season, and should help out even smaller schools by limiting lengthy road trips.

Beatty, Tonopah and Round Mountain all in Nye County, are listed among the 46 Division III high schools.

At the same time, schools accustomed to competing for state titles yearly in every sport might find their road to the postseason a bit bumpier.

"Year in and year out, I think it's going to wear on us," said Boulder City athletic director Regina Quintero. "There'll be some years where we can compete and others where we'll be in a rebuilding cycle and may have trouble competing."

Division III will be the largest in number of schools and includes current 1-A and 2-A classes; they would be separated into three regions.

Current 2-A Southern League members Ely White Pine and West Wendover would no longer be in the same league as Las Vegas-based schools Agassi Prep, Calvary Chapel and Mountain View.

However, it could create problems for the smallest of schools in the current Class 1A, which would be asked to compete with current 2-A powerhouse Needles (Calif.).

"We want to play the best," said Henderson International athletic director Mike Ostrowski. "I'm excited about this proposal. Our travel significantly decreases. Our three longest trips would be taken away. It's less time out of class."

Bonine said the NIAA hasn't yet determined if it would split Division III for the postseason in sports other than football.

"We needed to clear this hurdle first," Bonine said. "If the playoff piece is going to be integral, we'll sit down and put pencil to paper."

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This story, in its original form, first appeared Monday on the Web site, www.nevadaprepts.com. Bartt Davis of the Web site was the author.