Support grows for homeschooled athletes bill in 12th year in Missouri legislature

By Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri Independent

A bill that would require public schools to offer extracurricular activities to local homeschooled students is gaining traction after more than a decade of consideration by Missouri lawmakers.

High school senior Lydia Meredith, whose family annually drives from Joplin to testify in favor of the bill, told the Senate Education Committee in February it was her fourth time asking for them to pass the legislation.

Meredith was part of a competitive swimming team growing up and enjoyed racing with her friends. But when they reached high school, her friends joined the team at their public school. Meredith, who is homeschooled, was left behind.

“Before me came other Missouri students asking to be given the same opportunity to play for local sports teams, to join band or join a local debate team,” she said. “Every year this bill is not passed is another year the Missouri Legislature is complicit in denying key educational experiences for students.”

She said it was time for senators “to see this bill through to the end.”

For years, legislation seeking to give homeschooled students access to activities in public schools has been filed in Missouri. Most legislative sessions, the bill is passed by a committee but surpassed by other education priorities and never makes it to discussion by either legislative chamber.

The proposal was first offered in 2014, under then-Rep. Elijah Haahr, a Springfield Republican and homeschooled student who later became Missouri House speaker. The legislation didn’t make it to the House or Senate floor until 2021. The chamber gave its initial approval to the bill but never passed it to the Senate.

In 2023, the bill had its longest run, making it into a larger education package that passed the Senate with only two opposed and clearing a House committee late in session.

This year, the Senate in February unanimously passed a bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Ben Brown of Washington, and House leadership referred the bill to its education committee over legislative spring break. This is the fastest the legislation has passed its originating chamber.

The bill has also garnered approval by former critics.

 

State Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat, voted against the legislation in prior years but said during the Senate debate that she had changed her mind after hearing from homeschooling families.

“I really see the benefit of having students, and the more the merrier, be able to participate in activities,” she said.

Nurrenbern previously worried that public school and homeschool students could be held to different standards and access the same privileges.

A school counselor had those concerns in the committee hearing. Other opposition came from a homeschooling group called Family Covenant Ministries, which has concerns about applying the state’s homeschooling law to public activities.

Home educators in Missouri have been split over the years about bills that would expand opportunities for homeschoolers but connect them closer to state government. Some say it could open them up for more state oversight of homeschoolers, of which Missouri has very little.

In a large education package passed last year, lawmakers created a new category of homeschool called family-paced education. This group would be able to take advantage of the state’s education tax-credit program while allowing those wary of governmental intrusion to have separation in state law.

David Klarich, a lobbyist for Family Covenant Ministries, said Brown’s bill should only apply to family-paced education.

Another homeschooling organization, Families for Home Education, spoke in favor of the bill — not because of the extracurricular activities but for a provision that often evades discussion.

The bill seeks to remove a part of state law that describes a declaration of intent to homeschool. The declaration is optional and is intended to reduce truancy investigations.

Kim Quon, a director for Families for Home Education, said the law has had “the opposite effect.” Some families who have sent a letter of their intent to homeschool have reported the district did not remove their children from enrollment records.

“It has spurred many unnecessary discussions and investigations,” she said.

The organization has otherwise taken a neutral stance on the bill’s provisions on student athletes, according to its website.



The bill is one of 28 awaiting a hearing by the House Elementary and Secondary Education committee, of which only two are Senate bills.