IHSA August Board Meeting Recap: Metamora Principal Charlie Zimmerman Appointed To IHSA Board Treasurer Position

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors met for its regularly scheduled meeting at Illinois State University on Monday, August 25, 2025, where the Board approved nine action items.
 
ACTION
 1. The Board approved a recommendation to amend Board Policy 18 to use true seeds in sub-sectionals, except when a conflict arises with pre-determined regional hosts. Previously in Sub-Sectionals, the top four seeds were separated (#1 seed and #4 at one Regional site, #2 and #3 at the other Regional site unless there is a hosting conflict, i.e. the #1 and #4 seeds are both Regional hosts). The remaining schools were placed at the two Regional sites by geography instead of by seed. The Board’s action will now place all the schools at the two Regional sites by seed.
 
 2. The Board approved a recommendation to appoint Metamora High School Principal Charlie Zimmerman to serve as the Treasurer on the IHSA Board of Directors. The Treasurer position is appointed by the Board and is a non-voting member.
 
 3. The Board approved a recommendation to adjust the number of officials ratings required by each head coach in certain sports. Below are the sports and new number of ratings required per coach during the 2025-26 school year.
 

 
 4. The Board approved a recommendation to return the convenience fee to customers purchasing GoFan digital tickets for IHSA State Series events. This practice will keep the IHSA in-line with standard practices for member schools who use GoFan, while also increasing the revenue share for schools hosting State Series events. 
 
 5. The Board approved a recommendation to change the cash ticket prices for Select State Final events/rounds that use go fan. The ticket prices will increase to even denominations of $5 (i.e. $10 or $15) in order to help host sites with change and encourage digital ticket use to streamline the tournament accounting. 
 
 6. The Board approved a recommendation to waive the transfer eligibility rules for female students transferring to Marmion Academy in Aurora for the 2026-27 school year as the school transitions from an all-male to a coed student body. 
 
 7. The Board approved a recommendation to re-institute the IHSA Distinguished Service Award program. The program, which seeks to recognize longstanding IHSA state final contributors and other individuals who have gone above and beyond to support IHSA programs, was discontinued during the pandemic.  
 
 8. The Board approved a recommendation for the IHSA staff to take the appropriate steps to prepare for a strategic planning session during the spring of 2026.
 
 9. The Board approved a recommendation to continue implementing the IHSA Document Retention Policy for the 2025-26 school year.
 
 
APPEALS & ELIGIBILITY RULINGS
Appeals were held with the IHSA Hearing Board, a subset of the IHSA Board of Directors, virtually on August 15, 2025:  
 
 1. The Board modified the Executive Director’s ruling on a student from Taft High School in Chicago. The student was initially ruled ineligible for non-compliance with IHSA By-law 3.040, but was granted full eligibility.
 
 2. The Board modified the Executive Director’s ruling on a student from Huntley High School. The student was granted an equipment exemption to the NFHS Football Rulebook due to a medical condition.
 
 3. The Board sustained the Associate Executive Director’s ruling on a student from East Aurora High School. The student was ruled ineligible for non-compliance with IHSA By-law 3.030.
 
DISCUSSION
 1. The IHSA set tentative classifications for the 2025-26 school year based upon enrollment submissions by member schools because the official Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) enrollments were not available at that time. The IHSA has since received the ISBE enrollments and reconciled them with the submitted school enrollments per the requirement of IHSA by-laws to use ISBE enrollment figures. As anticipated, over 600 schools had at least a slight variance in their enrollment data, with nearly 200 of those variances being underreported enrollments. Despite the significant overall number of variances, the reconciliation resulted in 18 schools moving up or down one class in four-class sports. This included:
 

  2. The Board heard a report from the Executive Director on the upcoming IHSA legislative process, which will take place in November and December. Per the IHSA Constitution, the submitters of Proposal 1 from 2024 have acquired enough signed petitions for their proposal to bypass the Legislative Commission in 2025 and appear on the all-school ballot. 
 
 3. The Board heard a report from Assistant Executive Director Stacey Lambert on concussion data from the 2024-25 school year.
 
 4. The Board reviewed an Enrollment Variance Requests from Crystal Lake South High School and Northside College Prep in Chicago, but took no action.
 
 5. The Board reviewed coach and student-athlete ejection data from the 2024-25 school year and discussed ways to combat ejections.
 
6. The Board heard a report from IHSA Director of Officiating Services, Kurt Gibson, on the 26^th annual IHSA Officials Conference, which was held in Normal on July 11-12.
 
 7. The Board reviewed additional data provided by Aurora Central Catholic High School regarding its multiplier waiver request in boys golf and girls basketball, but took no action. 
 
 8. The Board heard a report from Assistant Executive Director Dan Le on the 2025 IHSA All-School Mailing, which took place in early August.
 
 9. The Board heard a report from IHSA staff members who attended the 2025 National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) National Conference in July. 
 
 10. The IHSA will serve as the host of an NFHS Section meeting in Chicago in early September.