(Watchdog.org) Springfield, IL – The Illinois Legislature certainly does not want to administer the stateâs high school chess tournament, but lawmakers wouldnât mind getting a piece of the millions of dollars high school basketball and high school football bring in each year.
A plan heading to the Illinois House could begin a set of hearings that could end with a state takeover of the Illinois High School Association.
The IHSA is in charge of all high school sports and events, everything from football to girlsâ volleyball to the annual high school journalism contest.
The organization, though it works with public schools, is a private nonprofit group.
And a revenue generating machine.
The IHSAâs annual reports show the organization brought in almost $11 million for the 2013-2013 school year.
The annual state football championship alone brought in $2.1 million. The boysâ basketball tournament earned the IHSA $2 million.
Girlsâ sports are not such big money makers, but they do bring in a few bucks. The girlsâ basketball tournament earns $740,000 and the girlsâ volleyball tournament earned $507,000 last year.
There are just as many sports that lose money â the state tennis tournaments for boys and girls earn a whopping $250, but cost about $50,000 to host.
State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, the suburban Democrat pushing for the hearings, told The Southern Illinoisan she wants to know why the IHSA is not accountable under the stateâs open meetings act and why the group sets media policies that have restricted access to public school events.
âItâs just that we want to throw some transparency and light on it to make sure weâre working in harmony,â Chapa Lavia told the newspaper. âAll Iâd like to do is have them come to us and answer a lot of questions.â
Lawmakers may be willing to ask the questions, but there is a growing backlash against any plan to hand over the IHSAâs duties â and dollars â to the state board of education.
Photo credit: Meagan Davis (CC-By-SA 3.0)
