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...That is what I love about where I live and officiate. We can work for who we want to. The "associations" are there for our training purposes only, they cannot and do not assign games. If you choose to work with a particular assignor, it is based on their "attitudes" on how you are as an official that gets you hired. Very much like D1 conferences. Of course it benefits you to work for certain assignor to work for another assignor, but you do not have to if the assignor has their own evaluation system. We still have the politics, but it does not matter if a particular assignor really wants to hire you and thinks you are ready for his conference varsity games.
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Same in Massachusettts (at least in the southeast). Our IAABO Board is there for training new candidates, on-going education for members, rules interpretations, membership in HS Association, etc. The board does not contract with schools or youth leagues. The leagues have their own commissioners who are hired separately. Some commissioners are IAABO members and referees, but not representing their board in this assigning capacity. They may hire refs from any boards of their choosing.
I'm not sure about the commissioners' attitudes to get you hired, but politics definitely play a part in getting games. We may work for any commissioners. There are no (formal) evaluations and no tier system for moving up, or number of years experience required. There is a vast array of ability on our HS varsity courts: 1) old vets who are fixtures but haven't improved for twenty years, 2) new guys who have been moved up too fast and aren't really ready, and 3) people who have put in their time, kept up on mechanics and rules, have five or more years of JV experience, and are excellent varsity referees. Then there is another group: those that fall into category 3 above, but are NOT getting varsity games. There are a few assignors who want quality, and make an effort to find refs who have potential and work with them to improve and advance. Others just want bodies to fill games, especially in subvarsity contests. It's "who you know" when it comes to these guys.
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