The National Federation Of State High School Associations (or NFHS) is the body which oversees and governs most high school interscholastic athletics and extracurricular activities in the United States at the national level. Most high schools, whether public, private, or religious, belong to their state's high school league; in turn, each state's high school league belongs to the NFHS. Over 17,000 high schools are associated with the NFHS.
However, in states which have separate leagues for public and non-public high schools, only the public-school bodies are NFHS members. For example, the Texas University Interscholastic League (public schools, with non-public schools generally not allowed with exceptions for Dallas Jesuit and Houston 's Strake Jesuit ) is a member, while the Texas Association Of Private And Parochial Schools (not open to public schools) is not a member. Similarly, the Virginia High School League , open only to public schools, is a member, while the state's parallel association for non-public schools is not.
Iowa has separate governing associations for boys' and girls' sports — the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union . Only the Iowa High School Athletic Association is listed as a full member of the NFHS; the girls' governing body is listed as an affiliate member.
The NFHS publishes rules books for each sport or activity, and most states adopt those rules wholly for state high school competition.
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