State, federal governments seek oversight of nonprofit Missouri State High School Activities Association

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri State High School Activities Association is under scrutiny from the state and federal governments, as a discrimination lawsuit against the association progresses and a bill looking to change who has the final say on appeals sits on the governor's desk.

The legal battle began when Cassville R-IV School District Superintendent Merlyn Johnson was denied the chance to run for an at-large position on the MSHSAA board in March 2025 after receiving an email from Executive Director Jennifer Rukstad.

"The current Board of Directors, after taking out members whose terms are up, has a majority of males," MSHSAA Executive Director Jennifer Rukstad wrote in an email to Johnson. "Since you are a male, you do not meet this requirement. The ethnicity of the board has a majority of white, non-hispanic [sic] members. Without knowing your ethnicity or race, we ask you to respond with a minority ethnicity or race group in which you identify, if you applicable."

In that email, Rukstad included the board policy that explains two at-large seats are reserved for members who represent a gender or ethnicity without a seat on the current board.

The board has eight members who represent districts throughout Missouri and two at-large seats.

Following that email, the Missouri state auditor opened an investigation into MSHSAA before getting Attorney General Catherine Hanaway involved. Hanway and Johnson filed a lawsuit about a year later, in February 2026, in federal court. The U.S. Department of Justice also filed to intervene in the case on Johnson's side and was approved.

"It’s illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender or race. That’s clearly what they’re doing here, and that’s why we filed the lawsuit," Hanaway told ABC 17 News.

In an interview with ABC 17 News, Rukstad said the at-large race and gender requirements were added in 2004 when the board of directors looked at the association as a whole and who it serves.

"[Board members] said our board seems to be representing only a portion of our membership. We've got to figure out a way to have people that can speak from a different perspective," Rukstad said.

From when MSHSAA was founded in 1926 until the early 2000s, a woman had never served on the board, and a person of color hadn't served in an elected position, Rukstad said.

Rukstad declined to comment on the lawsuit. However, MSHSAA's attorneys filed court documents backing the policy.

"It prevents gaps in representation and helps ensure the Board reflects the diverse student population it serves by creating two more seats at the table (out of 10), not by removing or restricting access to existing ones," the document reads.

Hanaway said her office wants MSHSAA to stop.

“If they would be willing to open those two at-large slots up to any qualified person, our lawsuit would go away,” she said.

MSHSAA's attorneys have requested that the case be dismissed, claiming it was filed in the wrong court and that the state doesn't have standing to sue, only Johnson. A federal judge will have to decide whether to continue in Missouri's Eastern District, and a decision hasn't been made.

MSHSAA has another hurdle in front of it.

A bill sitting on the governor's desk could add what lawmakers have called an "interscholastic athletic oversight commission." The governor-appointed commission would have five members who oversee appeals that have either exhausted MSHSAA's appeals process or appeals that were made directly to the commission.

The MSHSAA board and the oversight commission would review appeals on student-athlete eligibility and in-game calls.

Senate Bill 863 was introduced by Sen. Jason Bean (R-Holcomb), who says the commission is intended to give students and families an independent voice.

"What people felt like is when they went through the appeals process through MSHSAA, that MSHSAA was making judgment calls on their officials,” Bean said.

The bill has changed a lot since it was first introduced at the beginning of the session, but Rukstad said she is happy with the final edition of the bill.

“If we can figure out ways to be as fair as possible, and if our state government wants to have some say in that, ultimately that’s not a bad thing," Rukstad said.

She also said no government intervention would be ideal since MSHSAA is a private, nonprofit.