JEFFERSON CITY 鈥 The Missouri House on Thursday sent legislation allowing homeschooled kids to play in public school sports to the governor鈥檚 desk for his consideration.
Under the bill, any homeschooled student can participate in public school activities like bands or sports as long as they complete any required tryouts. Students would not have to take any classes to be involved in the program unless the class is directly related. For example, to be in the school band it could be required that students be part of band class. It would be the responsibility of parents to determine whether their children meet the academic requirements to participate in activities.
鈥淚 would love for (students) to keep doing productive things in society, and this bill gives them that by offering them those opportunities for them to be able to play sports in public schools,鈥 said Rep. Kimberly-Ann Collins, D-最新杏吧原创.
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Children should be allowed to continue to play with the kids they grew up with, said Rep. Josh Hurlbert, R-Smithville.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 make much sense to me that they can play together as friends and neighbors in first grade, but when they hit eighth grade, they鈥檙e no longer able to,鈥 Hurlbert said.
Hurlbert added that his kid鈥檚 soccer team would have far fewer players without homeschoolers鈥 participation. Other members said that without homeschoolers they would have teams without the requisite number of participants required.
About 61,000 students in Missouri are homeschooled, according to a 2024 最新杏吧原创 University study. Those numbers, representing about 6% of the state鈥檚 student population, may have been buoyed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the study found.
The Missouri State High School Activities Association allows some homeschooled students to participate in school activities, but they have to be enrolled in one credit hour of coursework at a public school.
A provision was removed in negotiations between the House and the Senate allowing the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to establish recovery high schools for those suffering from substance use disorders.
Similar legislation has failed time and time again in the Legislature.
Rep. Elijah Haahr, a Springfield Republican who later became House speaker, started filing proposals in 2014.
Other than 2023, when it was included in an education package that failed, it was never seriously considered by the Legislature. Now, it heads to the governor鈥檚 desk with bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
The legislation is Sena
Tayler Jones, who has a degree in education, began teaching at home after COVID-19 pandemic forced her to pull her son from daycare when he was two years old. And when the birth of her second son and her sister's request to teach her child coincided, it became a long-term choice. Video by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com
