Frustration expressed with home-school bill

Home-schooled students may be playing sports in public schools.

A bill just recently cleared the House of Delegates in the General Assembly that would allow for home-school students to participate in sports and other schools programs at public school systems where they live.

Nicknamed the “Tebow bill” after the Denver Broncos quarterback — who was home-schooled but allowed to play football at a local high school — the legislation is now in the Senate.

This type of bill has been through the legislature before, but now has a real chance at passing. However, 39 delegates voted against the bill and not everyone is excited.

The main factor concerning the bill is not about sports. It’s about taxes.

Proponents for the bill argue that people living in Danville’s city limits pay taxes that are used to fund the public schools. Therefore, it is only fair that home-school high school students are allowed to play on local high school teams. Their families pay taxes like everyone else.

But people arguing against the bill — many of whom are school board members and teachers — believe this is just one more burden that schools have to face in a time many of them have tightened budgets.

Danville Public Schools is facing a $5.2 million budget deficit and Pittsylvania County Schools have to shed $3.4 million.

Home-school students do not count as part of a public school’s Average Daily Membership, even if they are eligible to participate in sports and school programs. The ADM helps determine how much money the school division receives from the state.

“Our position has been if you are not a part of ADM, then you may not benefit from how we spend the money for public school students,” said Danville School board Member Malcolm Huckabee.

Huckabee said there have been issues with this before and combining non-public school students into after-school activities has been complicated.

For students to participate in school activities who do not attend the public schools, administrators will have to set up a way to determine specifics for academic eligibility and how they are disciplined.

However, the students must follow the same guidelines for tryouts and can be charged reasonable fees. According to the Virginia Department of Education, there were 40 students registered home-schooled in Danville last year and 192 in Pittsylvania County, but this does not cover religious exemptions and the numbers are probably higher.