LITTLE ROCK, AR - The Arkansas Activities Association passed a rule Wednesday that clears the way for homeschool students to participate in interscholastic activities for the first time.
Under the new rule homeschool students will have to meet
eligibility requirements. The requirements include a student who leaves public school for homeschool to sit out of interscholastic activities for one year and homeschool students could only play for a school in a district where their parents live.
The governing body of the AAA which is comprised of superintendents and athletic directors, approved the rule change 155-82. It required a majority vote to pass.
Shawn Cook, superintendent of Lakeside School District in Hot Springs, spoke out against the rule saying it puts public school students at a disadvantage.
"When our kids get home from an event they'll have to be at school the next morning at 8 o'clock," Cook says. "Home school kids can sleep in, practice all day, do whatever they want to do."
The rule change approval comes after the failure of "Tim Tebow Law" at the general assembly in 2009 and 2011 which would have allowed homeschool students to participate in sports as well as band, choir and other extracurricular activities.
