A Florida House panel is weighing legislation aimed at opening high school sports and other extracurricular activities to more students enrolled in school choice programs.
State law already allows home education, virtual school and private school students to participate in high school sports. But some lawmakers have said the state’s laws governing issues like eligibility for athletics may not have kept up with the proliferation of school choice.
At the same time, they have said school choice students sometimes have less flexibility to participate in other extracurricular activities, like clubs and chess teams.
Last year, the House passed a bill by Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, to allow students in school choice programs to participate in clubs offered at local public schools, if the school they attended didn’t offer them. The bill did not pass the Senate.
Draft House legislation discussed Thursday would revive that concept, while also wading into thornier issues like high school sports eligibility.
“This really clarifies and brings up to date the eligibility requirements that go hand-in-hand with the educational programs that exist today,” Diaz told the House Education Committee.
Other parts of the bill could be controversial because they affect the operations of the Florida High School Athletic Association, the state’s main governing body for high school sports, which in the past has opposed bills that it said could open the door to “recruiting.”
Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, has filed similar legislation in the Senate.
Also Thursday, the House committee discussed draft legislation making administrative changes and expanding eligibility for Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts for special needs students. The program is administered by two scholarship funding organizations, one of which, Step Up For Students, co-hosts this blog and employs the author of this post.
The education panel is still refining its proposal before bringing it up for a vote. Similar legislation is advancing in the Senate. Several members of the panel indicated they supported giving options to students with specific special needs.
“This flexibility is important,” said Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura, adding it’s important that funding for the program does not come out of the main source of funding for public schools. “If that can be done and we can help these families a little more, that’s really the best of both worlds.”
