Home-Schooled Students Should Have More Extracurricular Activities, Missouri Senator Passes Bill

A Missouri senator wants home-schooled students to have more extracurricular activities. He passed a bill that would ensure they will be given opportunities to participate in these in the state of Missouri.

Sen. Rob Schaaf, a Republican from St. Joseph, is sponsoring Senate Bill 173 that will allow home-schooled students to have the same extracurricular opportunities as if they were attending regular school. The home-schooled student can choose to participate in these extracurricular activities among institutions within his school district.

In the state's current education system, school districts don't accept the participation of home-schooled students in sports or music and other activities unless they are actually enrolled in the school. The Department of Education in Missouri also does not have regulations, guidelines and monitoring of home-schoolers even as the option is regarded as a legal and acceptable choice for families.

"I went to a public school, Cameron High, and asked their Athletic Director if I could play basketball on their team," Coltin Martinez, who is now a home-schooled student said, according to St. Joe Channel. "They said I couldn't play unless I had a certain amount of credit hours through their school."

Martinez is part of The Defenders, a basketball team made up of solely home-schooled students. One player from the team sometimes travels to Kansas to participate in extracurricular activities as the schools in the said state are more accepting of this system. Not all home-schooled students, however, have the same luxury or time to travel off state.

Schaaf's bill hopes to stop this practice. "I think we should focus on the kids and not the education establishment," the senator said, per News-Press Now. If the bill gets passed, Missouri would be the 19th state to allow home-schooled students to join extracurricular activities within the school district.