Illinois High School Association (IHSA) member schools approved all 12 amendment proposals that appeared on the all-school ballot during the annual by-law referendum process that concluded on December 15, 2025. The voting was independently certified on the morning of December 16.
There were several significant changes approved by the membership, including expansion of the IHSA Football Playoffs from 32 teams per class to 48 teams per class, increasing the number of total playoff qualifiers from 256 qualifiers to 384. There are no changes to the number of playoff classes in football, which remains at eight. The season start date remains the same (August 10 in 2026), but the first regular-season games will be played one week earlier (August 20 in 2026), eliminating the Week Zero scrimmage.
"Too often throughout the years, football decisions have negatively impacted other sports at IHSA schools,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. " We are hopeful that this football playoff expansion will provide intended relief to our schools by stabilizing conference movement and eliminating the difficulty of scheduling football games that many of our schools face each year. It may create some short-term complications for some schools, conferences, and coaches, but we remain optimistic it will create long-term stability in football and beyond.”
Other significant changes include the IHSA Board of Directors expanding from 11 elected members to 15 elected members, with four new seats being created specifically for Superintendents (or Presidents, Heads of School, etc.). Cooperative sports teams made-up of 3,500 students or more will no longer be eligible to compete for IHSA State Series team awards, while the IHSA’s no-contact period in the summer will be moved from early August to the week of the Fourth of July beginning this summer.
A summary of the 12 proposals that were passed can be found below. All of the proposals will go into effect on July 1, unless otherwise noted.
Over 90% percent of the IHSA's 802 member high schools took part in the 2025 voting process. Below is a summary of the proposals and the vote totals. (The numbers in parentheses indicate the total of Yes-No-No Opinion votes. For an amendment to pass, Yes votes must outnumber No votes).
|
# |
Proposal Summary |
Yes |
No |
No Opinion |
Diff |
Result |
Votes |
Member Vote % |
|||||||||
|
1 |
Expands the IHSA Board of Directors to include four additional seats reserved for a Superintendent, President, CEO or Head of School. |
386 |
297 |
44 |
▲+89 |
Pass |
727 |
90.65% |
|||||||||
|
2 |
Allows IHSA to revise, amend, or supplement any ruling based upon information gathered during legal discovery. Also requires that all obtainable information be presented at the time of the appeal to the Hearing Board, while clarifying that the Executive Director cannot provide a new ruling following an appeal to the Hearing Board. |
605 |
83 |
36 |
▲+522 |
Pass |
724 |
90.27% |
|||||||||
|
5 |
Prevents a cooperative agreement between two or more schools that exceeds 3,500 students from competing for team awards in the IHSA State Series. |
488 |
172 |
66 |
▲+316 |
Pass |
726 |
90.52% |
|||||||||
|
10 |
Adds language to the IHSA recruitment by-laws that affirm that the rules apply to prospective student-athletes. |
616 |
76 |
33 |
▲+540 |
Pass |
725 |
90.40% |
|||||||||
|
11 |
Provides students with the ability to compete in two non-school competitions in that sport during the high school season. A third non-school competition is also allowed if the competition is sanctioned by the National Governing Body of that sport. This proposal goes into effect in 30 days on January 14, 2026. |
423 |
264 |
38 |
▲+159 |
Pass |
725 |
90.40% |
|||||||||
|
12 |
Allows each school to participate in one football combine that is free of charge to attendees. Schools may organize and transport up to 20 students to attend the combine. This proposal goes into effect in 30 days on January 14, 2026. |
517 |
104 |
103 |
▲+413 |
Pass |
724 |
90.27% |
|||||||||
|
13 |
Establishes an IHSA “No Contact Week” that will annually fall during the Fourth of July week. Schools may not practice, compete, hold open gyms, provide conditioning or weight training during this week. This change will be in place this summer, with the no-contact week occurring from June 29 - July 5, 2026. This also eliminates the previous no-contact week in early August. |
393 |
300 |
31 |
▲+93 |
Pass |
724 |
90.27% |
|||||||||
|
19 |
Moves the start of IHSA Football games up one week (eliminating Week 0 scrimmage) and adds 16 teams per classification to the playoffs. This change will be in place for the 2026 IHSA Football season and Playoffs. |
377 |
252 |
96 |
▲+125 |
Pass |
725 |
90.40% |
|||||||||
|
21 |
Moves the boys volleyball season start and end date up one week. This proposal will go into effect for the 2027 season. |
319 |
92 |
314 |
▲+227 |
Pass |
725 |
90.40% |
|||||||||
|
22 |
Moves the start of the softball season up one week. This change will go into effect for the 2026 season. Practices may now begin on February 23, 2026 and contests on March 9, 2026. |
337 |
322 |
68 |
▲+15 |
Pass |
727 |
90.65% |
|||||||||
|
23 |
Moves the start and end of the girls wrestling season up multiple weeks. This proposal will go into effect for the 2026-27 season. |
314 |
165 |
248 |
▲+149 |
Pass |
727 |
90.65% |
|||||||||
|
24 |
Modifies the suspension for ejection by players in tackle football for flagrant contact to have a video review process to clarify the accuracy of the judgment call. IHSA Staff will review video sent by a school and make a recommendation to the Executive Director to affirm the call on the field or overturn and return a student to their next contest. |
469 |
195 |
62 |
▲+274 |
Pass |
726 |
90.52% |
