THe probelm with PAL is when you had a few towns stacking their teams and ripping through PAL leagues. The Top division was formed a few years ago for town that insisted upon doing that but then guess what, half those towns opted out of that division and went to divivion 2. So despite PAL's effort to keep each division competitive the plan was circumvented by overzealous town directors that only cared about winning. The problem with going A/B too early (4th grade?) is that the skills are not developed enough for the B kids yet to be able to carry a team. If a twon only puts out 1 team or has a tryout then PAL should mandate that team goes to D1. As long as there is a fair outlet for all the kids to play, then do it how your town wants but play in the appropriate division.