04/19/13 – April 2013 Board Meeting Review

April 19, 2013

Print

Starting with this most recent meeting and going forward, I want to issue a review of items discussed at each of the Board of Control meetings and status of issues. With the Board meeting six times per year, it is critical that the membership be updated on a consistent manner as far as actions by the Board. I realize and applaud the fact that many of them personally update you with regard to undertakings, but I want to be sure all schools are informed. Agenda material and documents can be found online at http://portal.ksba.org/public/Agency.aspx?PublicAgencyID=4374&AgencyTypeID=1

BOARD MEETING – April 15, 2013

The Board met in Lexington on April 15. The meeting was separated into two sections, committee meetings and a full board meeting. The following discussions and actions were taken:

FULL BOARD WORK SESSION

The Board had an extensive work session concerning the KHSAA state events and KHSAA financial position. The Board’s stated long range goal is to have a reserve fund equal to one-year budget in reserve in case of severe drops in event or program revenue. While the Board is making progress toward that goal, it is the objective and duty of everyone involved to ensure our financial stability during this current and any other tremendous economic downturn. With an operating budget of nearly $4 million, and only $340,000 in unrestricted cash as of the final June 2011 audit, we obviously will need to continue working toward that goal.

The focus of this session however, was on the event revenue for the Association. Over a ten-year period, in particular, the last five years, attendance has taken a precipitous decline in boys basketball, which long has been the cash cow of the Association. This work session, primarily delivery of data from staff to the Board, was critical as future plans are made. Various alternatives are being considered to help augment and supplement the revenue in basketball while not raising ticket prices for the general public. A review was conducted concerning:

• Past ticket revenue totals, including drilling down to type of order (school, school system, public, etc.) for both boys and girls;
• A review of team reimbursement totals for KHSAA events to help determine the cost of this Commissioner’s desire to look at increasing the amount of  expenses paid to participating teams;
• A review of the new incentive program for ticket sales by competing teams wherein a rebate was returned to those squads;
• Printing and other circulation results were also distributed; and
• A collection of data from the past task force that looked at Sunday play.

The work session did not result in any additional Board action at this time.

FULL BOARD MEETING

The Board heard a comprehensive review of current legal matters as well as prospective legal matters during a short closed session.

The Board approved reports concerning:

• The minutes of a previous meeting; and
• A standard report of transfers, appeals, penalties and non-64 hour coaches.

The Team Sports Committee recommended an action (that was approved by the full Board of Control) to allow the Commissioner and specific Board of Control members to meet with schools in Region 15 to look at tournament formats to alleviate and remedy geographic and numerical imbalances due to a long standing pattern of consolidation and loss of schools ;

The Officials Policy Committee recommended the following items be approved (which were approved by the full Board of Control):

• The game fee for football was increased by $5 per official per game at the varsity level beginning in 2013 as part of the Board’s every four year review of its sports fees. The mileage and travel add-on at the regional level cannot be reduced. Non-varsity fees remain the total jurisdiction of the Regional Policy Boards; and
• The game fee for soccer was NOT to be adjusted as part of the every four-year review. The Board was extremely sensitive to the fact that the requirement for three officials is still relatively new and has had a budgetary impact on all members.

The Regulation and Adoption Committee met and considered potential Bylaw changes to be put on the agenda of the Annual Meeting. Any proposal authored by the Board of Control must have two readings before the Board. This gives them a chance between meetings to further consult with their schools or constituents, and be ready for that final vote. But even if approved with that final vote, that only puts the item on the Annual Meeting Agenda. The Bylaw changes must get a 2/3 vote of the schools at the Annual Meeting in the fall, and then they begin the long and arduous process of being approved as state regulation. I say all of this to be sure that you realize that even if a proposal is approved to go on the agenda, it is not a “done deal” and many times requires a long phase-in period.

The proposals given a second reading for adoption at the Annual meeting concerned:

• Bylaw 4- start four-year count of eligibility at enrollment in grade nine instead of promotion from grade 8 due to many issues related to the inability to consistently make middle school principals aware of the rules of the KHSAA; and
• An amendment to the Due Process Procedure clarifying age rule appeals;

The Board then continued its discussion regarding game limits for the sports of the KHSAA.  The Board had asked staff to research surrounding state limits for comparison (results are posted on the link above under the regulation committee meeting). In addition, at this discussion, the Board asked for further reports about the actual number of games being played, using the scoreboard data as a resource. The review of game limits originally began with a request from the State Superintendents and Principals Associations following open dialogue at their meetings and has continued for many months through discussion at the state AD conference and many other meetings such as the different sport advisory committees and state coaches’ conferences. Among the issues of concern originally expressed by school administrators were missed school time due to travel, academic performance degradation due to fatigue and travel costs and other expenses. In addition, the subject has been discussed with various other constituencies of the Association over the last couple of years. Though the variance from the states surrounding Kentucky can be quite large (see the material in the Board site referenced above), that does mean change will or won’t happen.

Through this discussion, the Board members gave a final first reading approval to proposals  which would reduce the game limits in the KHSAA team sports to:

• Baseball and Softball, change from 36 to 32
• Volleyball, change from 36 to 31
• Soccer, change from 21 to 18
• Basketball, change 30 to 28
• Football, eliminate the open week and start the season one week later to avoid August play.

Be mindful that this is NOT a final decision as the Board will make a final determination as to what, if anything is authored for change to be considered by the Annual Meeting when it meets on May 7.

The Board also reviewed on a first reading basis, two additional proposals to:

• Amend Bylaw 6 to add moving with a coach for whom a student has already played after being in grade nine (except for a family member) when a coach changes jobs to a different school; and
• Amend Bylaw 33 to consider a Show Cause penalty to Bylaw 33 in the event of a school being penalized for violations and a coach who was involved in those violations deciding to change to be employed at another member school.

If you have opinions about this issue, please submit that to the office and it will be shared with the office. You should always feel free to contact your Board of Control members as well.

The Board also approved regular reports of business including the bills of the Association through March 31 and the regular Board financial reports;

The following other items received approval:

• A change in the schedule for conducting Competitive Cheer championships was approved which will culminate with the championship scheduled the week after the football finals on a regular basis;
• A draft division of schools was approved wherein 35% of the schools will be in Class 1A, 40% in Class 2A and 20% in Class 3A for a new Track and Field and Cross Country alignment. With that information, staff will draft proposed specific regions for further presentation in May.
• A change in the schedule for State Basketball play where the finals will be played on Sunday afternoon with the semifinals on Saturday evening. Times can be adjusted based on major event conflicts;
• A change in the schedule for State Volleyball play where the finals will be played on Sunday afternoon  with the semifinals and quarterfinals being in split sessions on Saturday.

Several other items were discussed without action including the format of the Hall of Fame banquet.

As you can see, the hours they were in the office were packed. Again if you have questions or suggestions, feel free to send them in to the office, or contact your Board of Control members.

 

Print