(10-22-26) The Illinois High School Association is considering a change that would reshape the postseason in its bracketed team sports — without splitting public and private schools into separate tournaments.
According to IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson, the association’s Competitive Balance Committee is recommending a policy change that would place all of the private — “non-boundaried” — schools in each classification into their own quadrant of the State Series bracket. That would ensure only one private school could advance to the state semifinal round in each class, while public and private schools would still compete for the same single state championship.
The idea grew out of a version the committee discussed this summer, in which seven public schools and one non-public school would advance to the Elite Eight in each class before the paths intersected and the tournament unfolded as it always has — one champion per class. The committee has also discussed whether such a change would affect the need for the IHSA’s 1.65 enrollment multiplier and success formula for non-boundaried schools.
Anderson told WRMJ it was important to the committee not to completely divide the two into their own tournaments. The concern driving it, he explained, is the early rounds: a public school that hasn’t won a regional or sectional in years puts together its best team in a decade, then draws a non-boundaried school that — “whether it’s fact or perception” — is seen as having advantages. Bracketing the privates together would let public schools chase regional and sectional success against schools that draw students the same way they do, with everyone’s paths meeting at the championship level. He also warned that fully separate tournaments could push private schools to question staying in the association at all.
Next step: the proposal goes to member schools at town hall meetings across the state in November. With enough support, the IHSA Board could approve it — it’s a board policy change, so no member by-law vote — and it would take effect for the 2027-28 school year. It would cover football, boys and girls basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball and boys and girls soccer.
The backdrop: private schools are only about 12% of the IHSA membership, yet seven of the eight 2024 state football champions were private — all seven winning by 20 points or more. The IHSA has already tightened its multiplier waivers sharply in recent years, from around 200 granted in some sports down to roughly 40.
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