The proposal would have changed the wording of the organization's constitution to eliminate the last sentence of Article IX: "No state championship, however, shall be declared in football."
The vote was 167-102 in favor, with three abstentions. Because 285 schools were registered at the meeting, 190 votes were needed to form a two-thirds majority.
"It's very disappointing," said Brick Township athletic director Bill Bruno, who was an author of the proposal. "Now we're back in limbo."
Under NJSIAA rules, another proposal on this issue cannot be submitted to the organization's advisory committee until April 2014. If it passes through the advisory committee as well as the executive committee, the proposal could be voted on by the general membership again in December 2014.
That means there won't be state-championship football for public schools until the 2015 season, at the earliest.
"I think we're moving forward," Bruno said of sentiment for state-championship play.
Haddon Heights athletic director Joe Cramp said he voted against the proposal because of "uncertainty" about the format of the expanded playoffs, including start and finish dates as well as its impact on Thanksgiving football.
NJSIAA executive director Steve Timko said he believed that the lack of a concrete proposal for expanded state championships might have moved some skeptical officials to vote against the change.
"It's the unknown," Timko said.
Bruno said he has "six proposals on my desk" for various formats for an expanded state tournament. He said he wanted to wait until the general membership approved the constitutional change before bouncing those proposals off officials around the state, with an eye toward formulating a popular plan that would have been presented to the general membership in December 2012.
