House File 783 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 783 BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION (SUCCESSOR TO HF 331) 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 1836HV (2) 91 jda/jh
H.F. 783 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 not 13 expend any moneys originating from the state, to pay dues or 14 membership fees to an organization, and the school district 15 or accredited nonpublic school shall not be a member of, 16 participate in activities associated with, or receive services 17 from an organization unless the organization develops and 18 implements a policy that does all of the following: 19 a. (1) Establishes, in combination with the other 20 organization, a committee known as the conference realignment 21 committee. The conference realignment committee shall do all 22 of the following: 23 (a) Take action to bring about a reasonable conference 24 affiliation and relationship for high schools that are 25 members of organizations. Reasonable conference affiliation 26 and relationship with member high schools may include 27 total movement of member schools, sport-specific relief, or 28 scheduling assistance. When taking action to bring about 29 a reasonable conference affiliation and relationship for 30 member high schools, the committee shall consider all of the 31 following: 32 (i) The current total enrollment of the member high schools 33 and the projected total enrollment of the member high schools 34 in the future. 35 -1- LSB 1836HV (2) 91 jda/jh 1/ 5
H.F. 783 (ii) Travel distances between member high schools. 1 (iii) The comparability of instructional programs provided 2 by member high schools. 3 (iv) Traditional rivalries. 4 (v) The number of member high schools currently in the 5 conference and the number of high schools that may be added to 6 the conference. 7 (vi) The comparability of athletic programs and other 8 school-sponsored programs provided by the member high schools. 9 (b) Review all requests that are submitted to the 10 committee by school districts and accredited nonpublic schools 11 that are members of an organization related to changing 12 the extracurricular interscholastic athletics conferences 13 the school belongs to, including moving a member school 14 to a different conference. A request submitted under this 15 subparagraph division must contain an analysis of how the 16 change will affect the school district or accredited nonpublic 17 school submitting the request along with how the change may 18 affect other school districts and accredited nonpublic schools 19 that are members of the organization. 20 (c) When determining whether to approve or reject the 21 request, the committee shall consider the factors described 22 in subparagraph division (a) and how to best bring about 23 reasonable interscholastic athletics conferences that 24 are beneficial to students enrolled in school districts 25 and accredited nonpublic schools that are members of the 26 organization. After making a decision, the committee shall 27 provide a copy of the request and the committees decision to 28 the applicable organization and order the organization to take 29 all actions necessary to effectuate the committees decision. 30 If the committees decision rejects the school districts or 31 accredited nonpublic schools request, the committee shall 32 recommend an alternative conference alignment or allow the 33 school district or accredited nonpublic school to opt for 34 independent status. 35 -2- LSB 1836HV (2) 91 jda/jh 2/ 5
H.F. 783 (d) Develop an expedited review process for requests to 1 change an extracurricular interscholastic athletics conference 2 membership that are submitted to the committee by all school 3 districts and accredited nonpublic schools that may be affected 4 by the change. The expedited review process must require the 5 committee to provide a copy of the requests received under 6 this subparagraph division to the applicable organization and 7 to direct the applicable organization to take all actions 8 necessary to effectuate the committees decision. 9 (e) Review extracurricular interscholastic athletics 10 conference changes at least once every two years. 11 (f) Allow a school district or an accredited nonpublic 12 school to appeal orders issued by the committee to the director 13 of the department of education. 14 (2) (a) The conference realignment committee shall consist 15 of eighteen members, subject to the following requirements: 16 (i) Nine members shall be superintendents employed by 17 school districts or accredited nonpublic schools located in 18 different geographical regions of the state. 19 (ii) Nine members shall be activities directors employed 20 by school districts or accredited nonpublic schools located in 21 different geographical regions of the state. 22 (b) A quorum of the committee shall consist of ten members. 23 The members of the committee shall elect a chairperson of the 24 committee. 25 (c) Each organization shall appoint nine members to the 26 committee pursuant to a process established by the state board 27 of education by rule. 28 b. Prohibits the organization from changing membership 29 of extracurricular interscholastic athletics conferences, 30 including moving a member school to a different conference, 31 unless the conference realignment committee ordered the 32 organization to make such change pursuant to paragraph a , 33 subparagraph (1), subparagraph division (c) or (d). 34 c. Requires the organization to develop an expedited review 35 -3- LSB 1836HV (2) 91 jda/jh 3/ 5
H.F. 783 and implementation process for orders received pursuant to 1 paragraph a , subparagraph (1), subparagraph division (d). 2 d. Requires that, in order for a school district 3 or accredited nonpublic school to be included in any 4 extracurricular interscholastic athletics conference, the 5 school must offer at least one extracurricular interscholastic 6 athletics activity for boys and at least one extracurricular 7 interscholastic athletics activity for girls in the fall, 8 winter, and spring. Schools that are not coeducational must 9 offer at least one extracurricular interscholastic athletics 10 activity for boys or girls, as applicable, in the fall, winter, 11 and spring. 12 e. Prohibits a member school district or accredited 13 nonpublic school that withdraws from an extracurricular 14 interscholastic athletics conference, without approval, from 15 doing any of the following: 16 (1) Competing in the same extracurricular interscholastic 17 athletics activity in any conference for the two years 18 immediately subsequent to the date the member school district 19 or accredited nonpublic school withdrew. 20 (2) Competing in a tournament sponsored by an organization 21 in the same extracurricular interscholastic athletics activity 22 for the two years immediately subsequent to the date the member 23 school district or accredited nonpublic school withdrew. 24 3. The state board of education shall adopt rules pursuant 25 to chapter 17A to administer this section. 26 EXPLANATION 27 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 28 the explanations substance by the members of the general assembly. 29 This bill implements requirements related to organizations 30 that sponsor or administer extracurricular interscholastic 31 athletics, including the creation of a conference realignment 32 committee. 33 The bill defines extracurricular interscholastic athletics 34 as a contest or competition for sports between different 35 -4- LSB 1836HV (2) 91 jda/jh 4/ 5
H.F. 783 school districts or accredited nonpublic schools and outside 1 the regular scope of a school districts or accredited 2 nonpublic schools curriculum. Additionally, the bill defines 3 organization as the Iowa high school athletics association 4 and the Iowa girls high school athletic union, or their 5 successor organizations. 6 The bill provides that on or after July 1, 2025, a school 7 district shall not expend any moneys, and an accredited 8 nonpublic school shall not expend any moneys originating from 9 the state, to pay dues or membership fees to an organization, 10 and the school district or accredited nonpublic school shall 11 not be a member of, participate in activities associated 12 with, or receive services from an organization unless the 13 organization establishes, in combination with the other 14 organization, a committee known as the conference realignment 15 committee that is tasked with taking action to bring about 16 reasonable conference affiliation and relationship for member 17 high schools pursuant to requests submitted by member high 18 schools; develops and implements a policy that prohibits the 19 organization from changing the extracurricular interscholastic 20 athletics conferences unless the conference realignment 21 committee ordered the organization to make such change; 22 requires the organization to develop an expedited review and 23 implementation process for certain specified orders received by 24 the committee; requires member schools to offer at least one 25 extracurricular interscholastic athletics activity for boys and 26 at least one extracurricular interscholastic athletics activity 27 for girls in fall, winter, and spring; and prohibits member 28 schools that withdraw from an extracurricular interscholastic 29 athletics conference, without approval, from competing in any 30 conference for two years and from competing in a tournament 31 sponsored by an organization in the same activity for two 32 years. 33 The bill requires the state board of education to adopt rules 34 to administer the bills provisions. 35 -5- LSB 1836HV (2) 91 jda/jh 5/ 5