House File 331 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 331 BY BERGAN and GRASSLEY A BILL FOR An Act implementing requirements related to organizations 1 that sponsor or administer extracurricular interscholastic 2 athletics, including the creation of a conference 3 realignment committee. 4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 5 TLSB 1836YH (11) 91 jda/jh
H.F. 331 Section 1. NEW SECTION . 280.13D Realignment of high school 1 athletics conferences committee approval. 2 1. For purposes of this section: 3 a. Extracurricular interscholastic athletics means a 4 contest or competition for sports between different school 5 districts or accredited nonpublic schools and outside the 6 regular scope of a school districts or accredited nonpublic 7 schools curriculum. 8 b. Organization means the Iowa high school athletic 9 association or its successor organization, and the Iowa girls 10 high school athletic union or its successor organization. 11 2. On or after July 1, 2025, a school district shall not 12 expend any moneys, and an accredited nonpublic school shall 13 not expend any moneys originating from the state, to pay 14 dues or membership fees to an organization, and the school 15 district or accredited nonpublic school shall not be a member 16 of, participate in activities associated with, or receive 17 services from an organization unless the organization, for each 18 school year beginning on or after July 1, 2025, develops and 19 implements a policy that does all of the following: 20 a. (1) Establishes, in combination with the other 21 organization, a committee known as the conference realignment 22 committee. The conference realignment committee shall do all 23 of the following: 24 (a) Take action to bring about a reasonable conference 25 affiliation and relationship for high schools that are 26 members of organizations. Reasonable conference affiliation 27 and relationship with member high schools may include 28 total movement of member schools, sport-specific relief, or 29 scheduling assistance. When taking action to bring about 30 a reasonable conference affiliation and relationship for 31 member high schools, the committee shall consider all of the 32 following: 33 (i) The current total enrollment of the member high schools 34 and the projected total enrollment of the member high schools 35 -1- LSB 1836YH (11) 91 jda/jh 1/ 5
H.F. 331 in the future. 1 (ii) Travel distances between member high schools. 2 (iii) The comparability of instructional programs provided 3 by member high schools. 4 (iv) Traditional rivalries. 5 (v) The number of member high schools currently in the 6 conference and the number of high schools that may be added to 7 the conference. 8 (vi) The comparability of athletic programs and other 9 school-sponsored programs provided by the member high schools. 10 (b) Review all requests that are submitted to the 11 committee by school districts and accredited nonpublic schools 12 that are members of an organization related to changing 13 the extracurricular interscholastic athletics conferences 14 the school belongs to, including moving a member school 15 to a different conference. A request submitted under this 16 subparagraph division must contain an analysis of how the 17 change will affect the school district or accredited nonpublic 18 school submitting the request along with how the change may 19 affect other school districts and accredited nonpublic schools 20 that are members of the organization. 21 (c) When determining whether to approve or reject the 22 request, the committee shall consider the factors described 23 in subparagraph division (a) and how to best bring about 24 reasonable interscholastic athletics conferences that 25 are beneficial to students enrolled in school districts 26 and accredited nonpublic schools that are members of the 27 organization. After making a decision, the committee shall 28 provide a copy of the request and the committees decision to 29 the applicable organization and order the organization to take 30 all actions necessary to effectuate the committees decision. 31 If the committees decision rejects the school districts or 32 accredited nonpublic schools request, the committee shall 33 recommend an alternative conference alignment or allow the 34 school district or accredited nonpublic school to opt for 35 -2- LSB 1836YH (11) 91 jda/jh 2/ 5
H.F. 331 independent status. 1 (d) Develop an expedited review process for requests to 2 change an extracurricular interscholastic athletics conference 3 membership that are submitted to the committee by all school 4 districts and accredited nonpublic schools that may be affected 5 by the change. The expedited review process must require the 6 committee to provide a copy of the requests received under 7 this subparagraph division to the applicable organization and 8 to direct the applicable organization to take all actions 9 necessary to effectuate the committees decision. 10 (e) Review extracurricular interscholastic athletics 11 conference changes at least once every two years. 12 (f) Allow a school district or an accredited nonpublic 13 school to appeal orders issued by the committee to the director 14 of the department of education. 15 (2) (a) The conference realignment committee shall consist 16 of eighteen members, subject to the following requirements: 17 (i) Nine members shall be superintendents employed by 18 school districts or accredited nonpublic schools located in 19 different geographical regions of the state. 20 (ii) Nine members shall be activities directors employed 21 by school districts or accredited nonpublic schools located in 22 different geographical regions of the state. 23 (b) A quorum of the committee shall consist of ten members. 24 The members of the committee shall elect a chairperson of the 25 committee. 26 (c) Each organization shall appoint nine members to the 27 committee pursuant to a process established by the state board 28 of education by rule. 29 b. Prohibits the organization from changing membership 30 of extracurricular interscholastic athletics conferences, 31 including moving a member school to a different conference, 32 unless the conference realignment committee ordered the 33 organization to make such change pursuant to paragraph a , 34 subparagraph (1), subparagraph division (c) or (d). 35 -3- LSB 1836YH (11) 91 jda/jh 3/ 5
H.F. 331 c. Requires the organization to develop an expedited review 1 and implementation process for orders received pursuant to 2 paragraph a , subparagraph (1), subparagraph division (d). 3 d. Requires that, in order for a school district 4 or accredited nonpublic school to be included in any 5 extracurricular interscholastic athletics conference, the 6 school must offer at least one extracurricular interscholastic 7 athletics activity for boys and at least one extracurricular 8 interscholastic athletics activity for girls in the fall, 9 winter, spring, and summer. Schools that are not coeducational 10 must offer at least one extracurricular interscholastic 11 athletics activity for boys or girls, as applicable, in the 12 fall, winter, spring, and summer. 13 e. Prohibits a member school district or accredited 14 nonpublic school that withdraws from an extracurricular 15 interscholastic athletics conference, without approval, from 16 doing any of the following: 17 (1) Competing in the same extracurricular interscholastic 18 athletics activity in any conference for the two years 19 immediately subsequent to the date the member school district 20 or accredited nonpublic school withdrew. 21 (2) Competing in a tournament sponsored by an organization 22 in the same extracurricular interscholastic athletics activity 23 for the two years immediately subsequent to the date the member 24 school district or accredited nonpublic school withdrew. 25 3. The state board of education shall adopt rules pursuant 26 to chapter 17A to administer this section. 27 EXPLANATION 28 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 29 the explanations substance by the members of the general assembly. 30 This bill implements requirements related to organizations 31 that sponsor or administer extracurricular interscholastic 32 athletics, including the creation of a conference realignment 33 committee. 34 The bill defines extracurricular interscholastic athletics 35 -4- LSB 1836YH (11) 91 jda/jh 4/ 5
H.F. 331 as a contest or competition for sports between different 1 school districts or accredited nonpublic schools and outside 2 the regular scope of a school districts or accredited 3 nonpublic schools curriculum. Additionally, the bill defines 4 organization as the Iowa high school athletics association 5 and the Iowa girls high school athletic union, or their 6 successor organizations. 7 The bill provides that on or after July 1, 2025, a school 8 district shall not expend any moneys, and an accredited 9 nonpublic school shall not expend any moneys originating from 10 the state, to pay dues or membership fees to an organization, 11 and the school district or accredited nonpublic school shall 12 not be a member of, participate in activities associated 13 with, or receive services from an organization unless the 14 organization establishes, in combination with each other 15 organization, a committee known as the conference realignment 16 committee that is tasked with taking action to bring about 17 reasonable conference affiliation and relationship for member 18 high schools pursuant to requests submitted by member high 19 schools; develops and implements a policy that prohibits the 20 organization from changing the extracurricular interscholastic 21 athletics conferences unless the conference realignment 22 committee ordered the organization to make such change; 23 requires the organization to develop an expedited review and 24 implementation process for certain specified orders received by 25 the committee; requires member schools to offer at least one 26 extracurricular interscholastic athletics activity for boys 27 and at least one extracurricular interscholastic athletics 28 activity for girls in all seasons; prohibits member schools 29 that withdraw from an extracurricular interscholastic athletics 30 conference, without approval, from competing in any conference 31 for two years and from competing in a tournament sponsored by 32 an organization in the same activity for two years. 33 The bill requires the state board of education to adopt rules 34 to administer the bills provisions. 35 -5- LSB 1836YH (11) 91 jda/jh 5/ 5