JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri House on Thursday sent legislation allowing homeschooled kids to play in public school sports to the governor’s desk for his consideration.Â
Under the bill, any homeschooled student could participate in public school activities like bands or sports as long as they complete any required tryouts. Students would not have to take any classes or pay extra costs to be involved in the program. It would be on the students’ parents to determine whether they meet the academic requirements to participate in activities. Â
"I would love for (students) to keep doing productive things in society, and this bill gives them that by offering them those opportunities for them to be able to play sports in public schools," said Rep. Kimberly-Ann Collins, D-51ºÚÁÏ.
Some more rural members said it’s only fair kids can continue playing with who they grew up with even if they’re homeschooled. Â
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"It doesn’t make much sense to me that they can play together as friends and neighbors in first grade, but when they hit eighth grade, they’re no longer able to," Rep. Josh Hurlbert, R-Smithville, said.
Hurlbert added that his kid’s soccer team would have far fewer players without homeschoolers’ participation. Other members said that without homeschoolers they would have teams without the requisite number of participants required.Â
"It’s not about whether I think the homeschool students should be participating in these activities," Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, D-Columbia, said. "Our system is built that academics come first, the sports and activities come second."
About 61,000 students in Missouri are homeschooled, according to a 2024 51ºÚÁÏ University study. Those numbers, representing about 6% of the state’s student population, may have been buoyed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the study found.
The Missouri State High School Activities Association allows some homeschooled students to participate in school activities, but they have to be enrolled in one credit hour of coursework at a public school.
A provision was removed in negotiations between the House and the Senate allowing the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to establish recovery high schools for those suffering from substance use disorders.
Similar legislation has failed time and time again in the Legislature.Â
Rep. Elijah Haahr, a Springfield Republican who later became House speaker, started filing proposals in 2014.
Other than 2023, when it was included in an education package that failed, it was never seriously considered by the Legislature. Now, it heads to the governor’s desk with bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
The legislation is .
Tayler Jones, who has a degree in education, began teaching at home after COVID-19 pandemic forced her to pull her son from daycare when he was two years old. And when the birth of her second son and her sister's request to teach her child coincided, it became a long-term choice. Video by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com
