MSHSL News

The Minnesota State High School League’s Member Schools completed voting on the Constitutional Amendments proposed by its Board of Directors. Preliminary results demonstrated that the quorum requirement was met and an overwhelming majority of votes supported both amendments. These results will be verified by League staff and presented at the December Board Meeting for official ratification.

Thank you to all Member Schools that took part in this significant vote. Pre-ratified voting results identify that over 81% of our Member Schools voted on the Constitutional Amendments. In the first question, 500 schools supported adding 9th Grade to the MSHSL, with 13 votes against. Similarly, 508 schools were in favor of updating the Constitution, with 5 schools against. Pending the Board of Directors ratification, these Constitutional changes will be implemented in the 2025-2026 school year.

Given the voting outcome, the MSHSL 9th Grade Governance Task Force’s work continues with a focus on developing policy and bylaw amendment recommendations for the Board.

The League will continue to communicate with Member Schools on language adjustments related to the inclusion of 9th Grade and is committed to ongoing dialogue that supports our schools' work with these changes.

To better serve our members, the Minnesota State High School League is conducting a communications analysis. Part of the process is a survey to determine the effectiveness of our current communication tools and to better understand the specific communication needs of activities directors, coaches, principals, superintendents and officials.

Your feedback is essential for informing our communication strategy and ensuring we provide clear, timely and valuable information.

The survey will be open until Tuesday, November 5.

Survey Link

The League is seeking an outstanding Director of Finance to fill this position, beginning as soon as January 15, 2025, and not later than February 15, 2025. The Director of Finance reports directly to the Executive Director and is responsible for all financial duties for the Minnesota State High School League at both the League Office as well as the 16 Administrative Regions. In addition, the Director of Finance serves the MSHSL Foundation, a 501(c)(3), organization responsible for managing grants to Member Schools.

MSHSL Director of Finance Position Opening

Work is underway with Competitive Section Placement for 2025-2026 and 2026-2026. The Board Approved Timeline and other resources about Competitive Sections and the process can be found here. Classification and Competitive Section Page

Communications with Activities Directors have shared the next two items on the Timeline for action items:

1. November 29, 2024: The Nonpublic Fall Report Form due. Nonpublic school ADs, who offer free or reduced-price lunch meals, should complete the Nonpublic Fall Report Form using the information submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) as of October 1, 2024. (Public schools do NOT need to complete this form.)
2. January 24, 2025: Deadline for completed applications for new co-ops or dissolutions of existing co-ops to be placed.

Please work with your Activities Director to ensure that your school is registered for the upcoming Together 3.0 Regional Conferences.

The MSHSL is partnering with its Student Advisory and Leadership Team (SALT) to offer four regional student leadership conferences to member schools. The student conferences will feature both large group keynote-style sessions and small group breakout sessions where student and adult leaders will learn and work together to develop personal leadership skills and promote safe, welcoming and inclusive League-sponsored activities and athletics. Those who attend a regional conference will:

• Develop personal leadership skills and capacity,

• Work collaboratively toward safe, more respectful and inclusive environments in activities and athletics, and

• Be inspired and encouraged to positively impact the culture of their school and community.
  

Time: 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Cost: Free

Locations:

• November 12 - Willmar Conference Center, Willmar
• November 19 - Rochester Civic Center, Rochester
• November 21 - Minneapolis Marriott Northwest, Brooklyn Park
• December 3 - Sanford Center, Bemidji
  
  

Student Registration: Register

Administrators from your school are invited to attend and participate. Please register here.

The Form A and Form B Grant Applications are now active on the MSHSL Foundation website - mshslfoundation.org. Please submit your application(s) now.

On May 20, 2024, the MSHSL Foundation Board approved the designation of $700,000 to be allocated through the Form A Grant process and $340,000 to be allocated through the Form B grant process. Special note: Form A and Form B will be processed simultaneously in the fall of 2024.

The MSHSL Foundation is funded by the collection of state taxes on all postseason tickets. State taxes are required on all postseason tickets and a legislative provision directs these funds to the Foundation. The primary goal of the MSHSL Foundation is to award grants that assist, recognize, promote, and fund extra-curricular participation by high school students in athletic and fine arts programs.

• The Form A Grant process allocates funds to schools based on the unduplicated number of participants who qualify for educational benefits including free and reduced meals. Unduplicated means that each student counts only once, regardless of how many sports or activities they participate in.
• The Form B Grant process allocates funds to assist member schools, school districts and related conferences or regions with costs in three specific areas: health and safety, leadership initiatives and transportation that reduce barriers to participation.

Activities Administrators are encouraged to complete the MSHSL Foundation Grant A and Grant B Applications at this time. Visit mshslfoundation.org for grant application forms and instructions.