©
By Michael Sluss
RICHMOND
As expected, the House of Delegates passed a bill Wednesday that would make home-schooled students eligible to participate in public school interscholastic sports.
By a vote of 59-39, the House passed legislation that home-schooling parents have been seeking for years. Delegates debated the issue thoroughly on Tuesday and swiftly passed the bill Wednesday with little additional discussion.
After the vote, the bill's sponsor, Albemarle Republican Del. Rob Bell, took to the House's center aisle and "Tebowed," striking the prayerful, one-knee touchdown celebration made famous by Tim Tebow, the Denver Broncos quarterback whose name the measure borrows.
House Bill 947 allows home-schooled students to participate in interscholastic activities if they have shown adequate academic progress for two years, meet age requirements and comply with all other rules applicable to all high school athletes. Public schools are allowed to charge reasonable fees for home-school students to participate.
The measure now goes to the state Senate.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
Atheletics should be eliminated from all public(Nk-12) schools
until some outside funding sources can cover all costs to maintaine these activities.Why cut the academic staff,support staff, custodial staff and academic programs, in these trying times while pouring money into a nonmandated program which must be taxpayer supported. It is not the function of Public(Nk-12) schools to produce college candidates,rather it is their function to produce a sound working class labor force. As for vouches/choice... sems to me when public monies are used to contract out services the contractor must adhere to public guidelines. After all the contracted schoos will be getting federal,state,and local monies...they will have to follow the same mandateds the public schools will.
Atheletics should be eliminated from all public(Nk-12) schools
until some outside funding sources can cover all costs to maintaine these activities.Why cut the academic staff,support staff, custodial staff and academic programs, in these trying times while pouring money into a nonmandated program which must be taxpayer supported. It is not the function of Public(Nk-12) schools to produce college candidates,rather it is their function to produce a sound working class labor force. As for vouches/choice... sems to me when public monies are used to contract out services the contractor must adhere to public guidelines. After all the contracted schoos will be getting federal,state,and local monies...they will have to follow the same mandateds the public schools will.
THIS SHOULDN'T EVEN BE AN ARGUMENT
Why all the fuss. Home school parents and private school parents pay the same taxes as those that attend the public school system so they should all be entitled to the same priviledges afforded public school children. The difference between home school and private school is we as parents actually have a say-so in what our children are taught and not what the government mandates. If you disagree with this argument I'm all for you giving me my tax dollars back which would help offset what I pay for private school.
Its about time
Now we just need school choice vouchers parents already pay the taxes and for saving the schools as in my case 32,000 dollars a year I get nada. School choice will free poor families in poor school districts
to choose the best school,those parents that want to be proactive for their kids will have the opportunity. It will give a boost to middle class parents who struggle to afford private education. If President Obama approved this for Washington D.C. and for parents in his daughter's private school it should be in all 50 states. Parents against this and administrators against this might as well say they want to keep the poor, poor, and the USA number 24 and 26 in Math and Science achievement internationally (behind 3rd world nations).
Washington D.C.
When did the Obama Administration reverse it's position on the D.C. voucher program? It had been in place before he took office and shortly after his daughter's were enrolled at Sidwell Friends the voucher program was done away with. I was unaware of it being reinstated. That is good news if it was, but I have read nothing of the sort. I hope I'm wrong.
If they're eligible
They should be able to come up to the school and get free meals, too.
"They pay tax dollars, too"
For those who think this argument has merit, then why not let privately-schooled students also participate on high school athletic teams? Some states give private-school parents more from their tax dollars by providing buses to private schools. What's the difference?
So how long
So how long before some home schooled kid doesn't make a team and their parents sue the school board on the basis of some perceived discrimination?
Please remember, HS students have to meet certain standards...
Yearly, home educated students must meet high standards of testing to continue to homeschool without restrictions. They are held to higher standards than any public school institution - where sadly, sometimes students are promoted that should not be.
Many other states already allow this sports benefit to the taxpayer who is fully paying for all public school activities already but not using them.
Teams will find great talent in these kids...who have already proven themselves academically in numerous studies. Guess what profession is number one when it comes to home education for their own children? Yes, it is teachers!
Potential to put everyone in a tough spot
Tough for the home school kid who gets a position on a team with kids they don't go to school with. Tough on the public school kid who gets cut to make room for the home school kid. Sounds like lots of fun. Tough for the coach making cuts and trying to manage more layers of drama.