The Arizona Interscholastic Association’s legislative council voted Friday to create a sixth conference and allow conference committees to configure conferences and regions based on enrollment and other factors.

Schools can still appeal their placement, but must do so as an entire program, not on a team-by-team basis as was done before. To strengthen their appeals, schools can present student athlete participation data, geographical school issues such as loss of school time, information about the make-up of a school’s student population, competitive history, and any other information schools deem important.

Schools must turn in their enrollment figures by Oct. 1 every year.

Since forty of the legislative council’s 45 members were present during Friday’s special session, 27 votes were needed to pass an amendment. An AIA constitutional amendment needed 30 votes.

The new conference and region bylaw that passed on Friday did so with 32 votes. That bylaw will go into effect during the start of the 2016-2017 school year.

Under another proposed amendment to the bylaws, which easily passed Friday, region representatives will now schedule home and away games, beginning in 2016-17 also.  

Other proposed amendments that were voted on:

---The legislative council passed an amendment that reflects the number of delegates that will represent each of the six conferences on the legislative council. Six members of the Arizona School Boards Association will continue to serve on the legislative council.

---An amendment to increase the number of executive board members from nine to 13 failed.

---A proposed amendment to change the terms of office for executive board members didn’t pass for failure to draw a motion.

---Another proposed amendment, which would make changes to the diversity of committees, also didn’t draw a motion.

---Two agenda items were added Friday and also passed. Member schools may continue to use computer scheduling if they want, and verbiage to update a bylaw was added to include some 5A Conference sports.

Before the voting portion of Friday’s meeting was held, the AIA’s executive director, Dr. Harold Slemmer, gave the legislative council an update on a meeting he had with District 15 state representative Heather Carter.

Slemmer and Carter talked about topics that might arise during the next state legislative session and affect high school athletics.

Allowing students to transfer for academic purposes and allowing them to play immediately and governing online schools similarly to home schools, something Carter wants the AIA to take a stand on, were some of the topics Dr. Slemmer and Carter went over.

Barry Aarons, the AIA’s state legislative lobbyist, also talked to the legislative council on Friday about potential bills that the next state legislative session might vote on.

Aarons also said that the state legislature lauded the AIA for its concussion protocols, an area in which the AIA is viewed as a leader nationally.