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.



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A BILL FOR
 


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1 AN ACT concerning education.


2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,

3represented in the General Assembly:



4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the High 
5School State Tournaments, Competitions, and Fairness Act.

6 Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds the 
7following:
8  (1) That, pursuant to Section 1 of Article X of the 
9 Illinois Constitution, a fundamental goal of the people of 
10 this State is the educational development of all persons to 
11 the limits of their capacities.
12  (2) That, pursuant to Section 1 of Article X of the 
13 Illinois Constitution, the State has provided substantial 
14 funding to the system of public education, and that the 
15 funds provided by the State have assisted the high schools 
16 of this State to finance sporting competition, to pay 
17 coaches' salaries, and to provide sports facilities used by 
18 the public schools of this State.
19  (3) That high school sports competitions should be won 
20 fairly and squarely on the fields of play, and that rules 
21 and regulations designed to give any school or group of 
22 schools a legislative advantage over another school or 
23 group of schools should be forbidden.
 
 
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1  (4) That certain organizations or associations hold or 
2 claim to hold sports tournaments for the high school 
3 student athletes of this State and to award State 
4 championships and State titles to the winners of these 
5 tournaments.
6  (5) That certain organizations holding State 
7 tournaments that purport to award State championships or 
8 State titles based on fair competition have passed rules 
9 that have the appearance of discriminating against 
10 parochial, private, and magnet schools.
11  (6) That if publicly funded schools participate in 
12 sports tournaments that purport to award State 
13 championships or State titles, then these tournaments must 
14 be conducted consistently with the spirit and requirements 
15 of due process and equal protection under Section 2 of 
16 Article I of the Illinois Constitution, and that race, 
17 religion, creed, and national ancestry should be 
18 irrelevant to and shall have no part in the competition.
19  (7) That State titles and State championships should be 
20 won on the basis of excellence on the fields of play and 
21 roughly equal contestants on the fields of play, and that 
22 it is inconsistent with the notions of public education 
23 that any school should be barred from competition or put at 
24 a competitive disadvantage by organization or association 
25 rules that apply to one school in the competition and not 
26 the other.
 
 
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1  (8) That smaller schools cannot fairly compete with 
2 substantially larger schools, and that it should therefore 
3 be permissible to create classes, such as Class A and Class 
4 AA, but that these classes must be based on actual 
5 enrollments and not upon imaginary students.
6  (9) That devices, such as multipliers, that create the 
7 illusion that a school has more than its actual number of 
8 students are forbidden from being applied to schools that 
9 have selective enrollment based upon entrance exam scores.
10  (10) That disputes between an organization or 
11 association and any member school over recruiting 
12 practices require a hearing that meets with the procedural 
13 notions of due process, including an impartial hearing 
14 panel, a charge, an opportunity to be heard, and the right 
15 to appear by counsel.

16 Section 10. Application.
This Act applies to competitions 
17run by any person, corporation, organization, or association in 
18this State purporting to award a State championship, State 
19title, or the like and involving the publicly funded high 
20schools of this State.

21 Section 15. Prohibitions. In all competitions, no 
22distinctions between schools may be made on the basis of race, 
23religion, creed, or nation of origin, and no parochial, 
24private, charter, or magnet school may be barred from such 
 
 
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1competition or be placed at a competitive disadvantage. No 
2publicly funded high school in this State may participate in 
3any State tournament or State title competition if the 
4organizer seeks by use of a multiplier or like device to move 
5any school that has selective enrollment based upon entrance 
6exam scores into a higher class.

7 Section 20. Tournament organization. A tournament 
8organizer may organize classes based on the actual number of 
9students attending a school. The organizer may provide for 
10separate boys' and girls' tournaments. In determining classes, 
11boys' classes must be based on the actual number of boys 
12attending the school, and girls' classes must be based on the 
13actual number of girls attending the school. The use of 
14multipliers and like devices are forbidden from being applied 
15to schools that have selective enrollment based upon entrance 
16exam scores.