IHSA Announcements

July 24, 1996

Board Sets Goals, Budget For 1996-97 School Year

BLOOMINGTON — The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors set goals and adopted the budget for school year 1996-97 at its annual summer meeting July 21-23.

The following goals were set by the Board:
  1. To complete the development of and implement a strategic plan for the Association.
  2. To adopt an officials fee review plan by February, 1997, for implementation in 1997-98.
  3. To develop a plan to conduct a statewide Sportsmanship, Citizenship, Leadership Conference.
  4. To sharpen staff focus on internal operations.
"The Strategic Planning process is now underway and we will conduct the initial team meeting the weekend of Sept. 13-14," said Executive Director Dave Fry. "A thorough review of officials fees for all state series athletic events should produce a package that the Board of Directors can work with and chart the course for the future. The National Federation of State High School Associations has launched a national campaign to enable schools to reinvest in values and responsibility through participation in interscholastic activities. Illinois will be on the cutting edge in this regard. And with the change in administrative staff assignments in the IHSA Office we have to make sure there is a smooth transition."

The budget approved by the Board projects income to exceed expenses by $444,400.00. Of the $4,365,500.00 income, the different state series will account for $3,292,000. The expenses reflect an increase of $107,895 from the previous year, an increase of approximately five per cent.

"Last year was a perfect example of how weather can have a significant impact on the Association's budget," Fry said. "Bad weather in both the fall and spring resulted in a sharp decline in ticket revenue. The change of the boys basketball tournament site produced some new expenses which had to be charged directly to the budget. For example, for the first time in history, the lodging costs of the competing teams were covered by the Association. The new budget reflects adjustments to account for both these factors.

Boys Gymnastics

Approved a change in the structure of the state series to eliminate the regionals and go to five (5) sectionals advancing qualifiers to a two-day state final to be conducted in a new format. The first day of the state final (Friday) will be strictly team competition and the team champion will be determined that day. The second day of the state final (Saturday) will be strictly individual event competition and each of the six events will be contested, and the all-around champion will crowned.

Other Action

The Board took the following action regarding the general business of the Association:
  1. Added International Cultural Exchange Services to the list of approved Foreign Exchange programs.
  2. Approved a request to re-form a football cooperative team adding Ohio to the coop with LaMoille and DePue.
  3. Approved personnel policies for the IHSA Office for the 1996-97 school year, which includes: a) changing the job title from administrative secretary to administrative assistant, and b) dropping the Pulaski holiday from the calendar.
  4. Accepted the report of the Auditor General's Special Audit of the Basketball Site Selection Process.
  5. Approved plans for masonry cleaning and tuck-pointing of the IHSA Office Building.

Discussion Items

At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain agenda items which the Board discusses but upon which it takes no action. Following is a report of those on the July 1996, agenda:
  1. Sportsmanship By-law: The Board received a random sampling report showing a breakdown of ejections for violation of the Sportsmanship By-law. The sampling showed the name of the person penalized, the level of competition and status of the official making the ejection on a sport specific basis.
  2. Royalty Policy: The Board received a sport specific breakdown tracing the growth of the IHSA Royalty Policy Program since its inception in the 1992-93 school year. In addition, the Board discussed the potential for changes in the current policy regarding length of the agreement between licensed vendor and the IHSA, an annual licensing fee and a penalty system for non-compliance by licensed vendors as well as legal avenues regarding unlicensed opportunists.
  3. Public/Private Task Force: The Board heard a report of the progress being made by the Task Force on Public/Private School Relations. The Task Force focus has been in four areas: enforcement, boundaries for beginning high school students, transfers and financial aid. The Board discussed, but took no action on, a series of concepts being considered by the Task Force in each of the four focus areas.
  4. Principal's Rules Meetings: The Board received the schedule for the series of 13 meetings scheduled statewide between Sept., 18 and Oct. 9. Board members discussed a series of potential agenda items that could become part of each of these meetings in addition to a complete review of the recommendations and findings of the Public/Private Task Force.
  5. IHSA Activities Foundation Funding Ideas: The Board discussed the potential of a number of concepts to generate funding for scholarships through the Foundation. Among the ideas discussed were: a) an annual membership program; b) surcharge on state series tickets; c) statewide golf outings; d) the concept of extra "Foundation" games or scrimmages to be permitted and not count on a given sport's season limitation.
  6. Block Scheduling: Implications on weekly eligibility for students in block four, block eight and/or other similar types of curriculum scheduling were discussed by the Board. Research into the practical application regarding student eligibility and potential Board interpretations will continue.