Home-schoolers’ team path in education bill

A proposal to codify regulations that govern the participation of home-school students in interscholastic activities at public schools was endorsed Friday by the Senate Education Committee

House Bill 1789 by state Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, is legislation that has been dubbed the “Tim Tebow Law,” a reference to the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback who was schooled at home but played sports at a public high school.

If it passes, it would apply to home-school students who want to participate in public-school sports and in bands, choirs and other nonathletic activities that the Arkansas Activities Association governs.

The committee endorsement came after the bill was amended to address concerns that it would provide a loophole that would allow students who are failing academically to continue to participate in high school sports.

The amendment states that any student who withdraws from a school that belongs to the Arkansas Activities Association to be home-schooled won’t be able to participate in an interscholastic activity in the resident school district for a minimum of one year after the student withdraws.

The result: A public student about to be benched because of bad grades won’t be able to withdraw, switch to home-schooled status and keep playing for the same team.

“It basically gives home-school students the same opportunity to participate in athletics with some stipulations that they meet the same criteria other student athletes are required to meet,” said Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, who presented the bill to the committee on Lowery’s behalf.

The bill ran into trouble in the House Education Committee, in part because the Arkansas Activities Association had rules similar to the bill that were set to go into effect this summer. But it gained momentum after it was discovered that the new association regulations allowed- but did not require - public schools to include home-schooled students in interscholastic activities.

“I think both sides of this issue realized they needed to come together, do an agreed-upon bill and provide some additional opportunities for students who simply want to play sports or be in the band or sing in the choir,” said Jerry Cox of the Arkansas Family Council, who was among those who helped forge the compromise.

The Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators was among the early opponents of the bill but now supports it. Danny Knight, representing the organization, told the committee his organization hopes, if the law is enacted, that it could serve as a recruiting tool, suggesting that if home-schooled students were offered the opportunity to participate in athletics or other interscholastic activities, they might want to take French or another class at the school.

The bill requires that home-schooled students participating in interscholastic activities reside in the district where they participate in extracurricular activities.

“So if the parents are paying taxes in the district, it’s only fair they have the opportunity to utilize some of the services as long as it doesn’t place a hardship on the district,” Hendren said.

Also Friday, the committee endorsed House Bill 1939 by Rep. Charlotte Douglas, R-Alma. The bill would require local school district boards to reserve a place on their monthly agendas for the district’s personnel policy committee.

The committee is composed of administrators and employees elected by their co-workers. The committees can make recommendations on personnel policies.

Douglas and other bill supporters said the legislation was necessary because some district superintendents didn’t allow personnel policy committees time on the school board agenda, or did so only after prodding.

Representatives of the school board and educational administrators associations opposed the bill, saying it targeted a problem that doesn’t exist in most districts. Mike Mertens of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators warned that the agenda item could turn some school board meetings “into gripe sessions.”

Front Section, Pages 9 on 04/13/2013

Upcoming Events