The IHSA announced it received 24 by-law amendment proposals that were submitted before last month’s deadline by member schools.
The IHSA Legislative Commission will now vet the proposals and gather feedback from member schools at town hall meetings throughout the state this month. The Legislative Commission will reconvene on Nov. 23 to decide whether to submit each of the 24 proposals to a vote of the general membership. The final vote by IHSA member schools will take place between Dec. 1-15. Each proposal would take a simple majority vote to be approved and enacted.
A summary of notable proposals that are currently under review is listed below.
- A proposal aiming to create separate classes for public and private schools in the state series. In 4-class sports, there would be 3 public school classes and 1 private school class. In football, there would be 6 public school classes and 2 private school classes.
- A proposal aiming to create separate pathways for public and private schools in the initial portion of the postseason, which would keep public and private schools competing for the same state title. WRMJ previously reported that the likely bracket configuration would place private schools into their own quadrant of each bracket, ensuring only one private school could advance to the state semifinals in each class in each team-bracketed sport.
- A proposal aiming to undo the expanded IHSA football playoff field and return to 256 postseason qualifiers, bring back the Week Zero scrimmage, and push the start of the season back one week.
- A proposal aiming to allow football teams to schedule a regular-season exhibition game if both schools have opponents that forfeit.
- Proposals to shorten the following sports’ maximum regular-season games:
- Boys and girls basketball (28 games)
- Boys and girls soccer (22 games)
- Girls flag football (22 games)
- Boys and girls Volleyball (31 games)
- Baseball and softball (31 games)
- A proposal aiming to increase the non-boundary school enrollment multiplier from 1.65 to 2.5. The current waiver process would still apply.
- A proposal aiming to change the vote requirement for a by-law to pass from a simple majority to a supermajority (66.7%).
- A proposal aiming to allow residence eligibility for students who reside outside of a school district but have a parent who is a full-time certified staff member of that school district.
For the full list of the IHSA by-law proposals under consideration, click here.