Frequently Asked Questions

 (You may contact us at law.nchsa@yahoo.com)

Q: Is this going to allow the government to interfere with the rights of homeschoolers?

A: This is a voluntary opportunity only for homeschoolers who fill out a form and request to be involved in the program.  It will have no effect on other homeschoolers who wish not to be bothered.

We homeschoolers are indeed an independent bunch!  We homeschoolers who support this legislation understand the battle that had to be fought nationwide to be able to exercise the God-given responsibility and the right to educate our children at home if we deemed it best for the student.  It is true that we must be ever diligent to make sure our rights are not taken away! Homeschooling is well accepted as part of the educational options for many citizens.  While it will take the educational “system” a while to accept this, it is occurring.  I’m afraid that in our zeal for homeschooling, we often forget that it is not about the right to do this or do that but it is about what is best for each child that is important.

Many of us are veteran homeschoolers with many years under our belts.  Others who support this bill were ardent pioneers from the “early days” of the homeschool movement whose children have long-since graduated and are even now homeschooling their own children.  We encourage homeschoolers who have problems with this bill to avoid knee-jerk reactions and get the facts and then join us in this fight for more rights for homeschoolers who choose public school extracurricular activities.  Let’s face it, if athletics is your gifting, public schools can be and are indeed a wonderful place to showcase and develop your talents. In most cases the ONLY place to live out your dream.

Interscholastic extracurricular activities are an important compliment to the academic curriculum.  Participation in a comprehensive extracurricular and academic program contributes to student development of the social and intellectual skills necessary to become a well-rounded adult.

Many extracurricular activities can be provided to students on an individual basis, such as tennis, golf, piano lessons or art.  However, some sports or activities require groups of students and cannot be achieved on an individual basis. 

Children have different gifts.  Not all can or want to play football or baseball, but each deserves to have the opportunity to develop his or her talents. 

Most of us have been involved in homeschool teams and have seen many other great examples of valiant efforts by great homeschoolers to field teams of excellence.  But let’s be honest, short of Bill Gates joining the movement, do we think we could ever fund sports programs to the level necessary to bring them up to the caliber of most of the public and private school teams?  While we know full well that there is more to athletics than funding and visibility, it is nonetheless an important part.  And what about continuity of the program and coaches?  Homeschoolers don’t have the options afforded by public schools in this regard.   Private schools, co-ops, the AAU, enrolling in public school, etc. are indeed all viable options but why limit ourselves if we don’t have to?

Again, this option is available at some level in 24 states already and we have not found one state that experienced adverse effects or instances where the freedom or rights of homeschoolers has been harmed.  In 2006 when a local Pennsylvania school tried to “retest” a homeschooled athlete they were quick to drop the requirement when confronted by facts from the HSLDA.

HSLDA also states, in the states where equal access laws have been passed there has not been one case where additional laws have been passed that affect the homeschool population of that state.

Q: Will this legislation require our homeschooled athletes to be “dual enrolled” in the public school in order to participate?

A: This is a very important question! The wording in both Senate Bill 259 and House Bill 1116 leave these type of decisions up to the local school districts to decide. WE NEED TO MAKE IT CLEAR TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE THAT WE WILL NOT ACCEPT A “DUAL ENROLLMENT” OPTION!! Make sure when you contact the Senators and Representatives that you tell them this!

There are currently a handful of counties in North Carolina that do allow homeschool athletes to participate in public school sports. A couple of them require the student to be “dual enrolled”, or “partially enrolled”.

We all homeschool for a variety of reasons, and we have chosen this direction for our families. We find it reasonable for the school districts to require homeschooled students to meet academic eligibilty in order to participate in sports, just as they do the public school students. This is something that needs to be worked out between the parents and the principal, as stated in the Bills.

But “dual enrollment”, or “partial enrollment” is contrary to the entire concept of homeschooling. We need to make sure that this is completely clear to our Senators and Representatives! We are not interested in any legislation that allow school districts to demand “dual enrollment”, or “partial enrollment”. This is NOT equal access!

Out of the 24 states that already allow equal access to public school sports and extra-curricular activies, only 4 require “dual enrollment”, or “partial enrollment”.

Urge the Senators and Representatives to put into plain language in the Bills that “dual enrollment”, or “partial enrollment” can not be a requirement for participation in public schools.

Q: How many students will take advantage of the opportunity and participate?  Will it overwhelm the system?

A: There are reliable metrics which show that, nationwide, only 3%-5% of home-schooled students take advantage of equal access opportunities in states where it is allowed.  This is according to information from the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).   In North Carolina this would mean possibly 750 to 1,250 students would participate statewide, which equates to about 2 student per school or 20 per district. Therefore, the impact would be miniscule. These questions, however, ignore the tremendous positive impact.  We need look no further than Florida’s Tim Tebow for an example of positive impact!

Here is an interesting statistic from Brenda Dickinson, Florida Homeschool
spokes person who helped with the bill’s passage in Florida in 1996:
 
There are an estimated 51,000 homeschooled children in Florida.  In the 2004-2005 school year, 315 home education students participated in athletics.  That’s less than 1%, in a state which has been welcoming homeschoolers to their schools for extracurricular activities and classes for ten years now.  

There is no reason to believe that North Carolina would be any different from any other state which offers similar opportunities.

Q: Are homeschoolers held to academic standards?

A: Frankly, the superior academic performance of homeschoolers is almost legend by now.  The press knows it (look at any national academic competition such as spelling, science, essays, etc.), the colleges know it (many are actively recruiting homeschoolers), and the standardized tests prove it.  To imply, as the opposition does, that homeschoolers don’t measure up academically is either dishonest or indicative of bias against home-schoolers. Schools could easily verify a homeschooled student’s academic eligibility if necessary.

It should be noted also that the state of North Carolina already entrusts homeschool parents with the education of their children. Why should the schools or their leagues not treat homeschoolers the same with regards to athletic eligibility? 

On this website is a copy of the form used in Florida by the Florida High School Athletic Association by participating students.  It shows how easily many issues can be addressed on just a single form.  If grade verification is an issue then it can be handled just as easily in North Carolina.

Q: How would a principal discipline a homeschooled athlete?

A: The correct question is; ‘How would a homeschool athlete be disciplined?’ Is not the coach the first line of discipline on any team? Followed by the parent? The homeschool athlete would be required to adhere to the same rules and guidelines as the public school student and that the rules and consequences must be in published form.  A home-schooled athlete who required discipline would be treated like any other student.  If they need to be “benched”, then “bench” them.  They can be required to run wind-sprints or laps or do push ups just like a public schooled student. If that does not do the trick then the parent can be contacted. This is much easier for homeschoolers as a homeschooled child will, by default, have at least one parent or guardian who is very involved in the child’s life.  It’s that simple.  The coach is the first line of discipline followed by the parent. If an issue arises of school policy on the field then obviously the school administrator can discuss the issue with the coach and parent and if a suitable change can not made then the child can be suspended from the team. 

Q: What about “average” athletes? 

A: “Couldn’t these “superstar” homeschoolers take away a position from a public school athlete on the team?” This legislation would not necessarily increase the size of a team so, of course, some athletes who are not as skilled might not make the team (this, by the way, would include some homeschooled students who are not as skilled). This will be a very minor issue as some teams can take on more members than they currently have in certain sports, i.e., football.  This would actually help smaller school teams in particular. Larger schools that may have to limit the number of students on certain teams have other sports at which the “cut” student may be more adept.  Regardless, skill does not discriminate and it is well understood that “making the team” is part of life in general.  This is fairness. If a homeschooled student were a better athlete and chose to enroll in the school then another player would be bumped anyway.  So this is a non-issue and should not enter into intelligent debate.

And remember… the parents of homeschooled athletes pay the exact same taxes that support the public school teams as the parents of the public schooled athletes. This is about equal access and equal protection under the law. If we, as citizens, pay taxes for something then we should have equal access.

You pay taxes for our National Parks. Can you imagine the outcry if some particular segment of the American citizenry was stopped at the entrance and told “We know you pay taxes that go to preserve the National Parks for the public… thank you very much for doing that… but while we allow everyone else to come in and enjoy it, YOU can not!”

That’s called “stealing”.

Q: “If our sports are good enough for you then why not our academics”? 

A: This is an old argument with inherent bias against homeschoolers. First of all there is no “you” nor “our” to this issue.  We are all citizens of this state with hopefully the same goal in mind and that is to provide the best for our children.  This is about what is best for the student – not what is merely good enough. A homeschooled student is a student in this state just the same as a public or private schooled student and therefore deserves equal and fair treatment – especially by the state-sponsored educational establishment.  This should apply to athletics as well as academics.  A child can freely walk into any school in this state in the district where they legally reside and obtain educational services.  This should not exclude extracurricular activities that are offered by that school.   Many who exhibit this attitude often have the misconceived notion that homeschoolers think they are “better” than others.  While this notion may be the case in some instances, the same could be said of public-schoolers.  So it simply points out a bias or resentment towards homeschoolers.  Again it has nothing to do with the intelligent debate that many on both sides of this issue are trying to conduct.  Those who choose to continue to hold this attitude should realize at least that this is an instance where homeschoolers are offering an olive branch and trying to reach out to the public school system.

Top ranked schools are known for being open-minded and thinking outside the box.  We believe it is time for North Carolina to think outside the box in this area and others, and start doing everything they can to improve their schools and school-community relationships!