I did performance testing for a very large bank's branch network. Our auditors thought every page should be served through SSL. We saw a performance penalty for SSL that ranged from 5% to (rarely) 30%. This would have meant our buying additional servers with no perceived benefit, except of course avoiding a risk. At a bank, risk avoidance can be cost-justified: one breach can easily cost millions of whatever currency you like. In a setting like this, however, the benefit is not as obvious.
SSL is also a PITA to administer, for the various IT parties involved.
I, too, would like SSL, especially given the disclosures about NSA's capabilities. However, I can accept the current situation, especially given NSA's capabilities (penetrating SSL).
I'd be interested to hear the board administrators' response to the question, from a professional perspective as someone who's dealt a bit with SSL.