Student Well-Being

Ark. Home-Schooled Athletes Eligible for Public School Sports

By Bryan Toporek — August 03, 2012 1 min read
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Starting with the 2013-14 school year, Arkansas home-schooled students in grades 7-12 will be allowed to participate in public school extracurricular activities under a new rule passed by the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) this week.

The rule doesn’t guarantee a spot on a sports team for a home-schooled student; it simply offers him or her the chance to try out.

Any home-schooled students interested in pursuing this route must have their parents submit a written request to the district’s superintendent by July 1 in a given year. The superintendent has 30 days to approve or deny the request.

For a home-schooled student to participate in extracurricular public school activities, he or she must take the English, math, science, and social studies SAT-10 Assessments prior to the first day of school, scoring average or higher on all of them.

Assuming the superintendent approves the request, the home-schooled student-athlete must enroll in at least one class per day at the public school where he or she will be playing. Home-schooled students can only participate in extracurricular activities in the district where their parents live.

“We’ve heard from a lot of home-school parents that they’ll do whatever it takes to be able to participate,” AAA Executive Director Lawrence Taylor said to TodaysTHV.com.

The AAA passed the rule by a vote of 155-82, after the AAA’s board of directors unanimously recommended its passage. It needed at least 50 percent of the schools’ votes to pass, according to the

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Schooled in Sports blog.