Lincoln Journal Star - February 9, 2010
By Nancy Hicks
Lincoln Sen. Bill Avery says he wants to drag the organization that govern Nebraska high school sports into the 21st century.
The Nebraska School Activities Association is "an old boys club dating back 100 years that has an iron grip on the governance of school sports," Avery said during a public hearing Tuesday on a bill he introduced to regulate the now-private group.
There have been no minority members and only one woman on the governing board in its 100-year history, he said, even though about 40 percent of student-athletes are now girls.
And the group hasn't changed the boundaries of its six districts in more than 70 years, so the rural west is overrepresented in the governing structure.
The NSAA should have women and minorities in leadership positions, should have more equal representation in its governing structure based on the number of students in activities, and should live by Nebraska's open meetings and records laws, Avery said.
His bill (LB1021) would not dismantle the private organization but improve the governance of the independent and unregulated group, he said.
And it would promote "fairness, oversight, accountability and transparency," he said.
But leaders from the NSAA and several schools said the bill is unnecessary.
Though the NSAA has gender and ethnic equity issues, its board is composed of capable professionals and its governance is effective, consistent and fair, said Cinde Wendell, Holdrege Public Schools superintendent, speaking on behalf of administrators.
And the group is making changes.
The board is creating an open meetings and records policy and is seeking changes to allow better representation for more populous areas, said Jim Tenopir, NSAA executive director.
The organization has believed it is accountable only to school members -- and not to the general public, Tenopir said, explaining its resistance to open meetings and records. The group gets about $200,000 of its $3.5 million annual budget from school membership and activity fees, money that might be considered tax dollars, Tenopir said.
Avery's bill requiring representation based on student participation likely would create an enormous district stretching west from Grand Island and Hastings, Tenopir said. That would create problems in areas like district music competition, he said.
The current representation also assures the NSAA takes into consideration the needs of different schools -- as small as 36 students and as large as 2,500 -- said Rex Schultze, NSAA legal counsel.
The NSAA can make changes through its bylaws and constitution, Wendell told Education Committee members.
But Avery said that without legislative pressure, the group would not have started making changes.
"If you kill this bill, you can be sure NSAA will go back to doing business as usual," Avery told the committee.
