When we first learned that the Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL) had adopted a new system for rating the strength of Rhode Island high school sports teams, we were dubious. Now that it took just two months for a public high school to file a lawsuit against RIIL, we’re certain. This is a terrible idea.

For the many who are unfamiliar, RIIL is the nonprofit organization that oversees school athletics. It is managed by a committee of school principals, and it has paid staff.

The new points system is the “Rating Percentage Index,” or RPI. It is the system used in college athletics. The RPI goes deeper than just wins and losses; it factors in the quality of an opponent when determining how many points a team receives in league standings. A victory over a team with a high RPI (meaning it is considered a very good team) is worth more points in the standings than a win over a team with a lower RPI.

The RPI makes sense in college athletics, particularly in high-profile sports like football and basketball, where national rankings can influence the flow of millions of dollars in sponsorships and TV monies. In college sports, hundreds of similar teams compete in the same sports, and they cannot possibly play each other every season. The RPI is a data-driven formula to measure the strength of a team, relative to other teams, based on the strength of its schedule.

Why it is now used in Rhode Island high school athletics is a mystery to us, but we have one conspiracy theory. It feels like a way to pacify the few elite private schools who compete in RIIL.

A generation ago, private schools like LaSalle, Bishop Hendricken and Moses Brown were athletically similar to the public schools. They won some, they lost some, it was an even playing field.

Over time, the private schools got more ambitious and beefed up not only athletic resources, but athletic recruiting. These days, a handful of private schools, led by the three mentioned above, often roll out superstar teams loaded with talented players recruited from far and wide. In some sports, they routinely crush their public school opponents.

So the RPI feels like a way to keep those schools happy. They can reduce their number of mundane games against local public schools, travel to face elite prep or private school opponents outside of Rhode Island, rack up high-value RPI points along the way, and then still return home for the local high school playoffs, wallop the competition, boast about their Rhode Island championship, and keep the recruiting train rolling.

It is a grossly inequitable system, supported and endorsed by the principals of public schools everywhere.

We first noticed the grossness of inequity locally this fall when Barrington High School decided to send its boys’ soccer teams — both varsity and junior varsity — to Long Island for a weekend of games back in September. To pay for the trip, which included motor coach, two nights of hotel rooms for some 40 boys and coaches, plus meals, the soccer program privately raised more than $20,000. And by “privately raised,” we mean: pressured moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors and friends to buy expensive raffle tickets to pay for the trip.

Does anyone think Central Falls, Pawtucket, Woonsocket or Classical high schools are raising $20,000 or more to send their junior varsity students on weekend-long jaunts out of state? Of course not.

So RIIL has implemented a system where the privileged have more, and the less privileged have less. It seems like a significant step away from equity, in a system where there are mountains of evidence showing deep socioeconomic inequities.

Don’t view Mt. Hope High School’s absurd lawsuit — filed to protest not getting enough RPI points for their Homecoming-night victory over a Connecticut team no one had ever heard of — as a randomly weird occurrence. View it as a sign of things to come. The new system is unnecessary, has questionable purpose for the majority of its members, and breeds inequity.

School principals should look more closely and ask why it exists.