Implementing requirements related to organizations that sponsor or administer extracurricular interscholastic athletics, including the creation of a conference realignment committee

This bill implements requirements related to organizations that sponsor or administer extracurricular interscholastic athletics, including the creation of a conference realignment committee. The bill defines “extracurricular interscholastic athletics” as a contest or competition for sports between different school districts or accredited nonpublic schools and outside the regular scope of a school district’s or accredited nonpublic school’s curriculum. Additionally, the bill defines “organization” as the Iowa high school athletics association and the Iowa girls high school athletic union, or their successor organizations. The bill provides that on or after July 1, 2025, a school district shall not expend any moneys, and an accredited nonpublic school shall not expend any moneys originating from the state, to pay dues or membership fees to an organization, and the school district or accredited nonpublic school shall not be a member of, participate in activities associated with, or receive services from an organization unless the organization establishes, in combination with the other organization, a committee known as the conference realignment committee that is tasked with taking action to bring about reasonable conference affiliation and relationship for member high schools pursuant to requests submitted by member high schools; develops and implements a policy that prohibits the organization from changing the extracurricular interscholastic athletics conferences unless the conference realignment committee ordered the organization to make such change; requires the organization to develop an expedited review and implementation process for certain specified orders received by the committee; requires member schools to offer at least one extracurricular interscholastic athletics activity for boys and at least one extracurricular interscholastic athletics activity for girls in fall, winter, and spring; and prohibits member schools that withdraw from an extracurricular interscholastic athletics conference, without approval, from competing in any conference for two years and from competing in a tournament sponsored by an organization in the same activity for two years. The bill requires the state board of education to adopt rules to administer the bill’s provisions.