Last week the Iowa High School Athletic Association announced an amendment to their Articles of Incorporation.

This amendment will take socioeconomic factors like a school district’s free and reduced lunch numbers into consideration when looking at how to classify schools for football. To pass, the amendment needed 50 percent of the total membership or 60 percent of those voting to say ‘yes.’ The IHSAA reported 263 of 365 schools voted, with 211 schools approving.

West Central Valley Superintendent Rusty Shockley tells Raccoon Valley Radio that it shouldn’t affect the district too much.

“It really has very little bearing on West Central Valley. I mean, we’re not changing classes. It slides us down, because we would have been one of the larger schools in our class, but it truly just slides us down the ladder a little bit as to where we actually fit in with the rest of the schools within our class.”

Panorama Superintendent Shawn Holloway echoes Shockley’s comments as he believes the same will be true for Panorama.

“For us specifically at Panorama, we’re right on that edge of ‘A’ football versus ‘1A’. Our free and reduced numbers sit at about 40, 42 percent. So again, what you don’t know is how it’s affecting those other schools right around your beds numbers. But again, I voted yes for this. I think it’s good for schools across the state, and again, levels the playing field somewhat.

Now that superintendents around the state have approved the amendment, the IHSAA will take it to the Iowa State Board of Education meeting on January 12th. Should the Board also approve of the amendment, it will be implemented for the upcoming 2023 football season.