SF 321 (LSB 2768XS (1) 91)

SENATE FILE 321

BY  DICKEY, DRISCOLL, EVANS, SHIPLEY, and ZUMBACH

A BILL FOR

An Act prohibiting the expenditure of certain public moneys for dues or membership fees to high school organizations that do not use required enrollment calculations when determining school classifications for extracurricular interscholastic activities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  NEW SECTION.  280.13D  Limitation on expenditure of certain public moneys for high school organizations —— school classifications.
   1.  For the purposes of this section:
   a.  “Extracurricular interscholastic activity” means a contest or competition for sports between different schools and outside the regular scope of a school’s curriculum.
   b.  “Organization” means a corporation, association, or organization which has as one of its primary purposes the sponsoring or administration of an extracurricular interscholastic activity, but does not include an agency of this state, a public or private school or school board, or an athletic conference or other association whose interscholastic contests or competitions do not include more than twenty-four schools.
   2.  On or after January 1, 2027, a school district or a charter school shall not expend any moneys, and an accredited or unaccredited nonpublic school shall not expend any moneys originating from the state, to pay dues or membership fees to an organization, and the school shall not be a member of, participate in activities associated with, or receive services from an organization unless the organization, for each school year beginning on or after July 1, 2026, classifies, for the purposes of an extracurricular interscholastic activity, each school participating in an extracurricular interscholastic activity based on the school’s enrollment, provided that the enrollment number for nonpublic schools shall be adjusted pursuant to subsection 3.
   3.  a.  Prior to the beginning of a school calendar, each nonpublic school shall provide an organization with the school’s number of enrolled students. When determining a school’s classification, an organization shall adjust the enrollment number of a nonpublic school that accepts payment from an education savings account established pursuant to section 257.11B for the same school year, by multiplying the number of the nonpublic school’s enrolled students by one and one-half.
   b.  The adjustment made pursuant to this subsection shall not cause the nonpublic school to be placed in a classification that is more than one greater than the classification the nonpublic school would have received without the enrollment adjustment.
   4.  This section shall not apply to eight-person football.
    Sec. 2.  SCHOOL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2025.  An organization may classify schools according to the methodology described in section 1 of this Act for the school year beginning July 1, 2025, and school districts, charter schools, and nonpublic schools may expend moneys to pay dues or membership fees to an organization that does so.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill relates to the expenditure of public moneys for dues or membership fees to high school organizations that do not use required enrollment calculations when determining school classifications for extracurricular interscholastic activities.
   The bill defines “extracurricular interscholastic activity” as a contest or competition for sports between different schools and outside the regular scope of a school’s curriculum. The bill defines “organization” as a corporation, association, or organization which has as one of its primary purposes the sponsoring or administration of an extracurricular interscholastic activity, but does not include an agency of this state, a public or private school or school board, or an athletic conference or other association whose interscholastic contests or competitions do not include more than 24 schools.
   The bill prohibits a school district or charter school from expending any moneys to pay dues or membership fees to a high school organization, or be a member of, participate in activities associated with, or receive services from such an organization after January 1, 2027, unless the organization, for the purposes of an extracurricular interscholastic activity, classifies each school participating in an extracurricular interscholastic activity for each school year beginning on or after July 1, 2026, based on enrollment, as adjusted for nonpublic schools that accept payment from an education savings account. Adjusted enrollment is calculated by multiplying the total number of students enrolled in the nonpublic school by 1.5. However, an organization cannot move a nonpublic school up more than one classification. Each nonpublic school must give its enrollment numbers to an organization prior to the beginning of a school calendar.
   The bill does not apply to eight-person football.
   For the school year beginning July 1, 2025, the bill provides that an organization may classify schools according to the methodology described in the bill, and school districts, charter schools, and nonpublic schools may expend moneys to pay dues or membership fees to an organization that does so.