By Andrea Arens
Eighth grader Selah Turner would like to participate in extracurriculars in Peotone 207-U, specifically soccer at the high school. At the October 21 school board meeting, she gave a presentation encouraging the district to allow homeschool students to participate in extracurriculars.
This isn’t Selah’s first presentation either. She gave one previously and was told the district would consider it.
A growing trend since COVID, homeschooling rose from 2.8 percent to 6 percent nationally, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Selah’s presentation included information suggesting homeschoolers enrolled for extracurriculars increased revenue, as the state provides funding for additional students.
By revenue, she’s not wrong. IHSA Homeschool’s Fact Sheet requires the student to pay applicable tuition and fees at the member high school, whatever the cost per credit is. Homeschoolers only need to take one course per semester in order to participate in extracurriculars per IHSA.
Superintendent Brandon Owens said, “Over the years, Peotone CUSD 207U has operated with the expectations that homeschool students could not participate in extracurricular activities throughout the district. We have additionally not allowed tuition-paying out-of-district students to attend Peotone Schools. Because of this, we have not officially implemented a “tuition fee” or a price per credit hour. If the district were to change viewpoints regarding homeschool students, we would need to develop a plan that clearly defines expectations and coincides with IESA and IHSA policies.”
The Illinois State Board of Education does not have rules for homeschoolers to participate in extracurriculars. It stipulates school districts have no obligation to allow homeschoolers to participate in extracurriculars, only if a part time student is enrolled in a course that requires an extracurricular component. Instead ISBE defers to the Illinois Elementary School Association and the Illinois High School Association.
Both require the student to be in good academic standing, and the home school district must accept the homeschooled students’ work and that it be evaluated the same way district students’ work is evaluated. The student also must be earning credits toward graduation.
At the end of the board meeting, board member Tim Stoub made a motion to add the homeschool extracurricular participation discussion to the agenda. In a strange turn of events, board member Roger Bettenhausen motioned to table the discussion stating that adding an agenda item did not require a motion.
In any case, Selah confirmed with the board the discussion will be on the November 18 board meeting agenda. So, homeschoolers might just get to participate in extracurriculars.