UPDATE – this bill has passed the House and is making headway in the Senate. Please read the description below to understand why HSOK is OPPOSED to this bill. CONTACT YOUR SENATOR TODAY to let them know what you think about this bill!
Link to HB-4491
Contact Chair and Vice Chair of Education Oversight Committee and Chair and Vice Chair of Common Education Committee. Scroll to the bottom of those pages for contact information.
HSOK recently became aware of a new “Tim Tebow” style bill, HB-4491. A “Tim Tebow” bill is a a bill that gives homeschool students access to extracurricular activities (such as sports) provided by public schools. The underlying problem with Tim Tebow bills is that, unlike access to libraries, parks, or playgrounds, participation in these activities are always academically gated.
This means that either (a) the state will have to setup infrastructure to monitor and evaluate homeschooling students, or (b) if it doesn’t, it will encourage a huge influx of “fake homeschoolers” who are pretending to homeschool to avoid eligibility requirements, which will invite public scrutiny. Neither of these options are good.
For a more extensive discussion of why Homeschool Oklahoma opposes “Tim Tebow”-style legislation, see the articles “Why Homeschool Oklahoma Opposes Tim Tebow Laws” and “Homeschoolers Want Fairness, Not Special Favors”. Tim Tebow bills sometimes work in other states that don’t have the level of freedom that Oklahoma does. If the state is already monitoring your progress, then your academic eligibility has already been established. In Oklahoma, we have the freedom such that the state doesn’t monitor our progress, which is why we can’t and shouldn’t partake in academically-gated benefits provided by the state.
This bill also has provisions for charter school students to participate in public school activities. Homeschool Oklahoma has no official opinion on this. Therefore, if the writers of the bill want to remove the “education by other means” provisions, we will withdraw our objection.
Also note – there is another similar bill from last year’s session, HB-2088. It is unclear if that bill is still in play. If so, we are against that one also.
