Right problem, wrong solution: about IHSA's Proposal 13

November 09, 2023

Earlier this week, the IHSA released its full list of 23 proposals for the 2023-2024 year.

These proposals range from a reduction in summer contact days to an adoption of a district format for football.

A couple of these proposals jumped off the page at me, and none stirred up more opinions than Proposal 13, which would remove the private school enrollment multiplier and replace it "with enrollments of non-boundary schools to be the average enrollment of all public/boundary high schools that are above that school’s enrollment and within a 30-mile radius of the school."

Who it helps...

Proposal 13 was submitted by Williamsville High School's Adam Eucker on behalf of the entire Sangamo Conference. This conference is made up of ten Central Illinois public high schools, with enrollments between 300 and 600.

The Sangamo is made of 1A and 2A teams in sports with the 4-class system and mostly 2A and 3A teams in football. This is the prime group of schools that Proposal 13 would help.

With the location of the Sangamo teams from Jacksonville to Decatur, they often run into programs like Routt Catholic in Jacksonville, Normal U-High, and St. Teresa in Decatur pretty early in the postseason. While these private schools have the same enrollment, they have a decided advantage over public schools when it comes to the number of students in the 30-mile radius from which they can pull.

Who it hurts...

Proposal 13 hurts the exact teams that the Sangamo is trying to avoid - small private schools in cities.

Quincy Notre Dame has one big school that would affect its enrollment based on Proposal 13: Quincy High School. The QHS Blue Devils are in the 7A football playoffs this year, and Quincy Notre Dame is in 2A.

While QND has an advantage against public schools the same size, it's not quite fair to the Raiders to end up in the same postseason with the likes of Wheaton North and Normal West, two 7A qualifiers whom QND would face, should the proposal pass.

It also hurts smaller private schools in Chicago and its suburbs that don't have the same recruiting power as some of their larger counterparts. Schools like Providence-St. Mel, who made a run to the 1A boys basketball state finals in 2019, would be automatically moved up to the largest class. The Knights cannot (and should not) match up against the Glenbards and Napervilles of the world.

Who it doesn't affect (but should)...

The biggest problem for Proposal 13 is that it doesn't adequately address larger private schools, such as Nazareth Academy, who won the 5A football championship in 2022 and pulled off two big upsets to start the 2023 postseason, and whose girls basketball team handed Lincoln High School its sole loss in the 2023 3A state championship.

These schools have no problem competing in the class they're in; moreover, they'd have no problem in any class against public schools. Schools like Montini Catholic in Lombard would be moved to the largest class - but unlike Providence-St. Mel, they actually would be able to compete with Palatines and Rockfords.

What's next...

All the proposals will be discussed at town halls held between November 9 and November 21, at which point the IHSA Legislative Commission will decide which ones to put before member schools to be voted on in December.

Proposal 13 doesn't solve the disparity between public and private schools in the IHSA postseason. Instead, it simply relocates the problem and only hurts small non-boundary schools in the process.

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