As Jeré Longman reports, the question of whether home-schooled students should be allowed to play on high school sports teams has been taken up as a measure being considered by the Virginia legislature. He laid out the positions on both sides:
Patrick Foss is a top teenage soccer player who plans to graduate a semester early and enter the University of Virginia next January. His neighbor is a point guard on the local public high school basketball team in northern Virginia.
Next fall, Patrick, 17, would like to try out as a kicker on the football team at Freedom High School in South Riding, Va., but he is home-schooled and thus ineligible.
“My parents pay the same exact taxes as my next-door neighbor who plays varsity sports,” he said. “I …show more content…
The Virginia bill is the latest attempt by home-schooling advocates around the country to gain greater access to extracurricular activities at public schools.
Twenty-five states now allow the rising number of home-schooled students to play sports at public schools with varying restrictions, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association. Alabama and Mississippi are expected to consider similar legislation this year, while Tennessee is deliberating whether to provide wider access to athletics for home-schoolers.
Opponents of the bill argue that playing varsity sports is a privilege surrendered when students opt out of the public school system; that home-schoolers might take roster spots from public school students; and that it would be extremely difficult to apply the same academic, attendance and discipline requirements to home-schooled students as to those who are monitored daily in public schools.
To maintain varsity eligibility, for instance, Virginia’s public school students must take five courses in the current semester and must have passed five in the previous semester. Home-schooled students do not have to adhere to that
Patrick Foss is a top teenage soccer player who plans to graduate a semester early and enter the University of Virginia next January. His neighbor is a point guard on the local public high school basketball team in northern Virginia.
Next fall, Patrick, 17, would like to try out as a kicker on the football team at Freedom High School in South Riding, Va., but he is home-schooled and thus ineligible.
“My parents pay the same exact taxes as my next-door neighbor who plays varsity sports,” he said. “I …show more content…
The Virginia bill is the latest attempt by home-schooling advocates around the country to gain greater access to extracurricular activities at public schools.
Twenty-five states now allow the rising number of home-schooled students to play sports at public schools with varying restrictions, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association. Alabama and Mississippi are expected to consider similar legislation this year, while Tennessee is deliberating whether to provide wider access to athletics for home-schoolers.
Opponents of the bill argue that playing varsity sports is a privilege surrendered when students opt out of the public school system; that home-schoolers might take roster spots from public school students; and that it would be extremely difficult to apply the same academic, attendance and discipline requirements to home-schooled students as to those who are monitored daily in public schools.
To maintain varsity eligibility, for instance, Virginia’s public school students must take five courses in the current semester and must have passed five in the previous semester. Home-schooled students do not have to adhere to that