Illinois High School Association (IHSA) member schools approved three amendment proposals and rejected three others in the annual referendum that ended December 30, 2014. The online ballots were tabulated and certified in the IHSA Office Tuesday (Jan. 6). All the by-law changes take effect on July 1, 2015. Proposal 8, which removes the "dead week" from the IHSA Calendar, will likely be interpreted by the Board of Directors to cancel the remaining portion of the originally scheduled "dead week", which was to begin on June 28, 2015.
Schools rejected Proposal 10, which would have revamped the football regular season and the football playoff system, by a margin of 212-395 (34.9%-65.1%). Among football-playing schools only, the proposal was rejected 162-306 (34.6%-65.4%).
Schools also narrowly rejected two proposals regarding the Scholastic Bowl season. Proposal 17 failed by a 48%-52% margin and Proposal 18 failed by just six votes (49.5%-50.5%). Both proposals were voted down by a 45%-55% margin among Scholastic Bowl-playing schools.
Here is a summary of the proposals and the vote totals:
- Proposal 1 (passed 370-239): Allows the Board of Directors to approve international programs that do not appear on the list of the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET), and thereby confer eligibility to students in those programs
- Proposal 5 (passed 375-234): Removes the mid-summer "dead week" provision that was approved last year.
- Proposal 10 (rejected 212-395): Would have revamped the football regular season and the football playoff system.
- Proposal 15 (passed 489-96): Moves the date of the first contest of the Girls Tennis season four days earlier, to Thursday of Week 7.
- Proposal 17 (rejected 291-313): Would have removed the season limitation currently in place for Scholastic Bowl.
- Proposal 18 (rejected 299-305): Would have increased the contest limitation for Scholastic Bowl from 18 dates to 30 dates.
A total of 613 of 810 member schools (75.7%) participated in the amendment balloting, a significant increase from last year's 57.3%. A new email voting procedure is credited with turning out the vote, yielding the second-highest percentage since 1997.
Following is a summary of member school participation in the amendment process since 1996-97.
|
Year
|
Type of Ballot
|
Proposals on Ballot
|
Schools Voting
|
Percentage Voting
|
|
1996-97
|
mail-in
|
3
|
≥541
|
~72%
|
|
1997-98
|
mail-in
|
5
|
≥526
|
~70%
|
|
1998-99
|
mail-in
|
data missing
|
|
1999-2000
|
mail-in
|
22
|
≥517
|
~68%
|
|
2000-01
|
mail-in
|
3
|
≥547
|
~73%
|
|
2001-02
|
mail-in
|
11
(1 rejected)
|
≥417 of 755
|
~55%
|
|
2002-03
|
mail-in
|
7
|
≥493 of 766
|
~64%
|
|
2003-04
|
mail-in
|
9
|
≥541
|
~71%
|
|
2004-05
|
online
|
5
|
≥475
|
~62%
|
|
2005-06
|
online
|
5
|
≥593
|
~78%
|
|
2006-07
|
online
|
6
|
438 of 764
|
57.3%
|
|
2007-08
|
online
|
4
|
473 of 756
|
62.0%
|
|
2008-09
|
online
|
4
(1 rejected)
|
415 of 777
|
53.4%
|
|
2009-10
|
online
|
8
|
430 of 785
|
54.8%
|
|
2010-11
|
online
|
13
|
416 of 786
|
52.9%
|
|
2011-12
|
online
|
14
|
500 of 794
|
63.0%
|
|
2012-13
|
online
|
11
|
464 of 802
|
57.8%
|
|
2013-14
|
online
|
11
|
463 of 808
|
57.3%
|
|
2014-15
|
online/email
|
6
(3 rejected)
|
613 of 810
|
75.7%
|