By Illinois Radio Network
BLOOMINGTON – Illinois schools, and Illinois high school sports, will start on time this month. How long both keep going is an open question.
High school football started Monday morning at schools across Illinois. The season will run until the days after Thanksgiving, when state championship games are played.
Illinois High School Association Executive Director Craig Anderson said he expects every team in the state to be able to finish the season, but he’s prepared if they don’t.
“It’s really going to be a local decision,” Anderson said. “Just because they’re not conducting school won’t take them out of the playoffs.”
The concern for IHSA is a standoff in the state legislature over school funding. While lawmakers approved a state budget, House Speaker Michael Madigan inserted language into one of the budget bills that withholds funding from all schools if the state also does not approve a new evidence-based model for school funding. That measure, Senate Bill 1, was vetoed by Gov. Bruce Rauner because it also contained an additional $215 million for Chicago Public Schools to bail out its failing pension system. Rauner’s veto strips out the CPS pension bailout and amends some of the other provisions in SB1. Lawmakers have yet to act on the governor’s amendatory veto, putting new state finding for schools at risk.
Anderson said the IHSA has rules in the event of schools closing due to a teacher’s strike. In that case, teams can practice but cannot play games.
Anderson said this year if a school closes because of finances, and the school can’t or won’t field a team, they will forfeit.
That likely won’t sit too well with local communities. Anderson said high school sports are important to a lot of people, and he thinks parents won’t be too happy if a statehouse impasse threatens the local team.
“That high school experience for kids, and what it develops for communities in terms of camaraderie and those kind of things, are extremely important,” Anderson said. “If you take that away, and it appears to be for the reason of whatever situation is occurring in Springfield, there’s likely going to be some pressure building.”
Almost every school in Illinois has said it can open this month without a new state education budget. Some schools say they only have a few weeks of money on hand, other say they have a few months.
Anderson said that timeline means questions for the end of fall sports like football and volleyball, and questions about the start of winter sports like basketball and wrestling.
