Should Home-Schooled Students Play Public School Sports?
Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has inspired a movement in some states to allow it.
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Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow is part of the inspiration behind a bill being considered in Virginia that would allow home-schooled students to play public school sports.
The legislation being considered is nicknamed the “Tebow bill”, according to the Washington Post. According to the article, Tebow played public school football despite being home-schooled in Florida.
Maryland home-schooled students are not allowed to play public school sports, according to Maryland State Department of Education spokesman Bill Reinhard.
In the 2009/10 school year, the latest that data is available, there were 23,287 home-schooled students in Maryland–or 2.7 percent-out of 852,211 total, Reinhard said.
Sixteen states allow home-schooled students to play public school sports, the Post reported.
edb
12:57 pm on Tuesday, February 7, 2012
To home school is a choice and ALL choices have consequences good and bad. If you choose to home school, there are plenty of options out there for rec league organized sports. Should public schools accept students from Catholic schools into their sports programs or vice versa?....that would never happen.
Anneka Jameson
5:39 pm on Tuesday, February 7, 2012
As a former homeschooler, I believe that homeschoolers shouldn't have the option to play sports with public schooled children. Their parents made the difficult decision to educate them separately and not all decisions are fun or easy.
Helen Schlessinger
8:46 am on Saturday, February 11, 2012
I don't consider it a difficult decision to educate my own kids. It was a family decision and I enjoy being around my children. What I don't enjoy is being treated like a criminal when I am forced to explain my schedule, calendar and choices before a "homeschool specialist" who has never homeschooled. The only other parents who have to have regular meetings with a state official are those under criminal investigation.
As far as sports are concerned, they shouldn't be organized within the schools anyway. They are a part of the community up until high school so the network is already formed to keep them in the community during high school. Any taxpayer dollars being spent on such extracurricular things as sports, art and music to enhance the growing and knowledge of children should be available to all children in that community. Regardless of educational choices.