January 18, 2005
The IHSA Public-Private Task Force voted today (Jan. 18) to forward several recommendations made by its subcommittees to the IHSA Board of Directors for consideration. Some of the recommendations involve policy changes that can be approved by the Board itself, while others took the form of By-law amendments that must first work their way through the Association's Legislative Commission before finally facing a vote of the general membership.
The Task Force approved four proposals from the General Issues Subcommittee:
The Task Force approved two proposals from the Classification Subcommittee:
In addition the Task Force approved a subcommittee recommendation that the IHSA continue its existing policy of not allowing schools to “play up” by voluntarily choosing to play in a higher classification.
The Task Force rejected a proposal from the Multiplier Subcommittee that, if approved by the Board, would have created a tiered enrollment multiplier for all schools, public or private, based on the number of public high schools within the school's enrollment boundary. For private schools, this number is based on the number of schools within the 30-mile radius established by IHSA By-law 3.030. Among the private school members of the IHSA, this number ranges from 7 to 185 schools. For most public schools, the number of public high schools within the enrollment boundary is, by definition, one. However, for public lab, magnet, and charter schools, the number can be significantly higher. The proposal would have established five different multipliers from 1.0 to 2.0 based on this figure.
The Task Force then asked the Multiplier Subcommittee to reexamine the issues involved with an eye toward additional factors, including the size of the IHSA-established radius, the actual impact of population density on a school's enrollment as opposed to the potential impact, the effects of enrollment on IHSA tournament success, and the effect of special student populations on a school's enrollment.
The Board will hear the proposals from the Task Force at its next meeting on Monday, February 14. The Task Force plans to meet again at least one more time, on Monday, April 11.