SB0074 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB099 03708 NHT 23720 b

99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
SB0074

Introduced 1/28/2015, by Sen. Michael Connelly

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the High School State Tournaments, Competitions, and Fairness Act. Provides that the Act applies to competitions run by any person, corporation, organization, or association in this State purporting to award a State championship, State title, or the like and involving the publicly funded high schools of this State. In competitions, prohibits distinctions between schools based on race, religion, creed, or nation of origin. Prohibits barring parochial, private, charter, and magnet schools from competition or placing them at a competitive disadvantage. Provides that no publicly funded high school may participate in any State tournament or State title competition if the organizer seeks by use of a multiplier or like device to move any school that has selective enrollment based upon entrance exam scores into a higher class. Allows a tournament organizer to organize classes based on the actual number of students attending a school.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the High School State Tournaments, Competitions, and Fairness Act.

Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds the following:

(1) That, pursuant to Section 1 of Article X of the Illinois Constitution, a fundamental goal of the people of this State is the educational development of all persons to the limits of their capacities.

(2) That, pursuant to Section 1 of Article X of the Illinois Constitution, the State has provided substantial funding to the system of public education, and that the funds provided by the State have assisted the high schools of this State to finance sporting competition, to pay coaches' salaries, and to provide sports facilities used by the public schools of this State.

(3) That high school sports competitions should be won fairly and squarely on the fields of play, and that rules and regulations designed to give any school or group of schools a legislative advantage over another school or group of schools should be forbidden.

(4) That certain organizations or associations hold or claim to hold sports tournaments for the high school student athletes of this State and to award State championships and State titles to the winners of these tournaments.

(5) That certain organizations holding State tournaments that purport to award State championships or State titles based on fair competition have passed rules that have the appearance of discriminating against parochial, private, and magnet schools.

(6) That if publicly funded schools participate in sports tournaments that purport to award State championships or State titles, then these tournaments must be conducted consistently with the spirit and requirements of due process and equal protection under Section 2 of Article I of the Illinois Constitution, and that race, religion, creed, and national ancestry should be irrelevant to and shall have no part in the competition.

(7) That State titles and State championships should be won on the basis of excellence on the fields of play and roughly equal contestants on the fields of play, and that it is inconsistent with the notions of public education that any school should be barred from competition or put at a competitive disadvantage by organization or association rules that apply to one school in the competition and not the other.

(8) That smaller schools cannot fairly compete with substantially larger schools, and that it should therefore be permissible to create classes, such as Class A and Class AA, but that these classes must be based on actual enrollments and not upon imaginary students.

(9) That devices, such as multipliers, that create the illusion that a school has more than its actual number of students are forbidden from being applied to schools that have selective enrollment based upon entrance exam scores.

(10) That disputes between an organization or association and any member school over recruiting practices require a hearing that meets with the procedural notions of due process, including an impartial hearing panel, a charge, an opportunity to be heard, and the right to appear by counsel.

Section 10. Application. This Act applies to competitions run by any person, corporation, organization, or association in this State purporting to award a State championship, State title, or the like and involving the publicly funded high schools of this State.

Section 15. Prohibitions. In all competitions, no distinctions between schools may be made on the basis of race, religion, creed, or nation of origin, and no parochial, private, charter, or magnet school may be barred from such competition or be placed at a competitive disadvantage. No publicly funded high school in this State may participate in any State tournament or State title competition if the organizer seeks by use of a multiplier or like device to move any school that has selective enrollment based upon entrance exam scores into a higher class.

Section 20. Tournament organization. A tournament organizer may organize classes based on the actual number of students attending a school. The organizer may provide for separate boys' and girls' tournaments. In determining classes, boys' classes must be based on the actual number of boys attending the school, and girls' classes must be based on the actual number of girls attending the school. The use of multipliers and like devices are forbidden from being applied to schools that have selective enrollment based upon entrance exam scores.