Home-schooled kids taking part in schools' activities is aim of bill

Fifth-grader Lauryn Johnson is at least four years away from participating in high school sports.

That doesn't mean she isn't already dreaming about someday competing for the drill team of her local high school. As a home-schooled student, however, some feel her opportunities may be limited unless the Utah Legislature takes action to ensure her ability to participate. Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, is hoping SB61 will ensure Johnson's dream of trying out for drill team becomes a reality.

"It gives an opportunity for those high school and private school students who want to participate in activities equal access to facilities and programs that their parents are already paying for," Madsen said in the Senate's Education Committee meeting Thursday morning. Johnson was one of two home-schooled students who spoke in support of the bill.

Madsen acknowledged that many home-schooled students are already playing sports and participating in activities at public schools. His problem is that it is up to individual schools and districts to decide who gets to play, and he wants all students to be ensured the opportunity to participate.

"This bill tries to take the best experiences of those students … and use that as a standard across the state," Madsen said. "What this bill does not do is give them any advantage over fully enrolled public school students."

The Utah High School Activities Association and the Utah Education Association disagree. Both spoke against the bill in Wednesday's meeting.

"First, let us make it very clear this is not a fight over whether or not home-schooled students will be able to participate; they already have that opportunity under the current rules of the UHSAA," said Bart Thompson, assistant director of the UHSAA, which oversees high school sports. "We feel placing rules of eligibility for high school extracurricular activities into statute is ill-advised; our greatest concern with SB61 is the fact that it seeks to significantly alter the scholastic eligibility rules of the UHSAA by statute for only home-school students."

The sticking point is that when determining eligibility for home-schooled students, parents would be allowed to submit an affidavit indicating the student has mastered the material in each course and that they are maintaining satisfactory progress. Public and private school students are required to maintain a 2.0 GPA in order to participate in extracurricular activities.

"When an individual, any individual, participates in a league or association, they accept the eligibility rules that all other members of that association are expected to follow," Thompson said. "This legislation seeks to circumvent that basic rule of fairness. … The purpose of our rules is to maintain a level playing field for all students."