Opposing Item #29 of Wisconsin K-12 Omnibus Bill 2015

It is with deepest concern that the WIAA Board of Control, Executive Staff and the 505 member high schools are targeted with an introduced bill that will require all public schools to allow home-schooled children and students of a private school, which does not offer a sport (or sports) in its programming, to participate on public school teams.

The bill attempts to impose government control over a private entity by stating no school district can voluntarily join an athletic association unless such a rule is enacted.

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Text of the K-12 Omnibus bill as proposed by the Joint Finance Committee on May 19, 2015:

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Participation in Athletics and Extra-Curricular Activities. Require a school board to permit a pupil who resides in the school district to participate in interscholastic athletics or extracurricular activities on the same basis and to the same extent as pupils enrolled in the district, if the pupil is enrolled in one of the following: (a) a home-based private educational program; (b) a private school located in the district; (c) an independent “2r” charter school located in the district; or (d) a virtual school. Provide that a pupil who is enrolled in a home-based private educational program and is determined by the public school or school board to be ineligible to participate in interscholastic athletics because of inadequate academic performance would be considered ineligible to participate. Specify that a pupil attending a private school or an independent “2r” charter school could only participate in a sport that the private school or charter school does not offer.

Provide that a school district could not be a member of an athletic association unless the association required member school districts to permit home-based, private, charter, and virtual charter pupils to participate in athletic activities in the district.

Provide that a school board may charge participation fees to a non-public pupil who participates in interscholastic athletics or extracurricular activities, including fees for uniforms, equipment, and musical instruments, on the same basis and to the same extent as these fees are charged to pupils enrolled in the district.