By Erik Harris
MONTGOMERY – The Alabama House of Representatives has recently voted to pass a bill that will allow home-school student to participate in public school extracurricular activities such as sports.
After the ‘Tim Tebow’ bill passed by way of a 52-43 vote last month, it now moves to the Alabama Senate. The bill has been unsuccessfully pushed for several years.
The legislation, which is named after Heisman-winning quarterback Tim Tebow, has its fair share of skeptics. Pinson Valley head football coach Matt Glover is concerned about the academic monitoring of athletes that aren’t required to perform in a public school setting.
“I don’t see how you’re going to be able to regulate grades,” said Glover. “Kids have to pass classes to be able to play sports and if you’re homeschooled, how are they going to be able to regulate that.”
“I don’t know many home-school parents, but I doubt many home-school parents fail their kids,” said Glover. “That’s the big thing I see: How do you regulate it when it comes to grades.”
Glover worries about athletes opting to pursue the home-school rout in order to stay eligible academically.
“Lets say that you have a kid that’s failing, football’s over and the coach goes to his parents and says ‘hey, why don’t you homeschool this kid so he’ll be eligible?’ I could see that happening,” said Glover.
However, students would be required to take a standardized test or submit a portfolio of work that would have to meet the school’s academic standards. Also, programs would have the option to refuse students based on lack of space.
Others find it unsettling that home-school athletes wont factor into their school’s classification (1A-7A). Some lawmakers believe those families made a choice not to insert their child into public school and, therefore, shouldn’t expect access to pick and choose the public school activities they find appealing.
Glover doesn’t see the rule factoring into the Indians’ upcoming season.
“I don’t know of a lot of kids in Pinson that homeschool and if I did, I would never see them,” said Glover.