Proposals in the Virginia General Assembly to mandate that the VHSL allow homeschooled students to compete for the public high school they would otherwise attend have failed to pass.

In 1969, it merged with the Virginia Interscholastic Association, which was a similar organization that had served African American schools around the Commonwealth during segregation.

The VHSL is overseen by an Executive Committee elected from the principals and superintendents of the various Virginia school districts.

From 1970, the VHSL's member schools were organized into three group classifications based on enrollment: A, AA, and AAA.

Regional boundaries were different for all three groups as average school sizes vary substantially in different parts of Virginia.

Nearly all Group AAA schools were located in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Greater Richmond, with a few outliers in the Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Danville areas.

Group A schools were typically found in rural areas, with the largest concentration in Southwest Virginia.

The division format was first adopted in 1986 for football and was expanded in the late 2000s and early 2010s to some other sports in Groups A and AA.

The district system largely based on the prior group classifications has been retained for regular season competition and districts may now include schools from different group classifications to maintain local rivalries and minimize travel during the regular season.

There are no uniform rules for the seeding of schools in conference competition based on regular season results.

Academic activities include the following: Creative Writing, Debate, Drama (one-act plays), Forensics (a variety of individual events), Magazines, Newspapers, Scholastic Bowl, and Yearbooks Academic activities are coed and not considered varsity athletics by most schools.

The VHSL academic activities season begins in September with a series of journalism education workshops in four cities across the state that is sponsored by Jostens.

The VHSL/Jostens Regional Workshops began in 2005 and target both students and advisers of newspaper, magazine, and yearbook publications.

Held at Virginia Commonwealth University since 1989, the CJW celebrates the results of the newspaper, magazine, and yearbook evaluations that schools submit each June to the VHSL.

The VHSL also annually awards the Student Journalist of the Year to a deserving senior, which comes with the Savedge scholarship.

The VHSL academic season continues with the Group A and AA One Act Theatre Festivals, traditionally held the first week of December in Charlottesville.

Eight schools representing the top two in both district and regional competition present plays that are 35 or fewer minutes in length.

Two four-person teams meet head-to-head in this double-elimination tournament, answering questions in mathematics, science/health, social studies, English, and miscellany (including current events, fine arts, music, entertainment and sports).

Debate is a two-day tournament in April that features four events: Student Congress, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Policy.

The VHSL academic activities season culminates with the judging of creative writing entries announced in mid-late May.

In March, schools submit a folder containing six works (2 poems, 2 short stories, and 2 essays) written by six different students.

These school folders have traditionally been evaluated by judges at the University of Virginia's creative writing department.