Vernon father: Texas UIL bill will not change 'the way you home-school'

Much debate continues over whether Texas should pass SB 491 and the House version, HB 547, which will allow home-schooled children to participate in University Interscholastic League (UIL) extracurricular programs through their local public school. 

Currently, UIL prohibits home-schooled children from taking part in public school programs such as football, basketball, baseball, chess club and other activities, a previous Education Daily Wire story reported. 

According to another Education Daily Wire story, the Texas Home School Coalition believes these children deserve to participate in UIL programs and indicates that approximately 22% to 32% of home-school families reside in rural areas and extra-curricular options are non-existent or very limited.

"This bill offers opportunities not just for rural home-schoolers but also for lower-income and single parents that choose to home-school," home-school father Doug Jeffrey told Education Daily Wire. One single home-schooling parent I know doesn’t have the resources or time for a travel team. Her child would benefit from this bill like none other." 

The Jeffrey family home schools their children in Vernon.

A Texas Home School fact sheet also notes that equal access to public school extracurricular activities helps the nearly 50% of home-school students who would be categorized as coming from low-income households, according to NCES data.

Jeffrey said he supports the legislation for a variety of reasons, and people need to understand that the bill will not change how parents home school or take away any of the freedoms that home-schooling allows. 

"If this was a compulsory bill that changed the way we home-school, I’d be against it," he said. "Some Texas home-schoolers are leery this bill will chip away at the outstanding freedoms we have in Texas. I would not support this bill if I believed it did. It is an opt-in bill. I can’t stress that enough, if you don’t want to compete, don’t and there will not be any change in the way you home-school. Continue home-schooling like you have always done, but please let those that want to compete have a chance." 

Before moving back to Texas, the Jeffrey family lived in Illinois while Jeffrey was on active duty. Illinois allowed home-school children to do UIL programs. Jeffrey said that his family loved participating in the programs.

"Both my wife and I loved being involved in UIL events," he said. "From sports to speech and debate, those activities helped build us. Up until sixth grade, our small town has a wonderful boys and girls club league system that our kids love. After sixth grade though, UIL takes over and there are not any opportunities for home-school children to compete. If we lived in a big city or near one, we could, but like many rural home-schoolers we are stuck with the tyranny of distance." 

Currently, 35 other states have bills like the UIL bill that allows home-school children to participate in public school extracurricular programs. The bill was initially heard on the Texas House floor May 5, but was recommitted to committee following a technical point of order from Rep. Ken King (R-Canadian). Following the point of order, the House Public Education committee quickly reconsidered the bill and passed it back to Calendars to be placed back on the House floor schedule.

Supporters of the bill say there should be equal opportunity access for home-schooled students to University Interscholastic League (UIL) events, while opponents believe UIL participation should be limited only to those attending public schools. A HRO analysis states that parents who home-school still pay taxes that support and fund public school.

In an interview with Nortex Times, the bill's author, Rep. James Frank (R-Wichita Falls), said HB 547 is important because it "ends discrimination against home-school students by giving them access to their tax-funded extracurricular activities in their local school district. It also gives additional options to students to more fully form their education, regardless of where they live or how much money their parents have." 

He added that while "some home-school parents have chosen to organize and enroll their children in private athletic leagues or other creative outlets, the prohibition against home-school student participation in UIL activities effectively eliminates extracurricular opportunities for home-school families of limited economic means or in rural areas that cannot support these private activities."

HB 547 was approved by the House Public Education Committee on April 23..