A bill that recently moved to the state House of Representatives would allow home-schooled students to participate in all Kansas State High School Activities Association activities.

The bill, SB 60 was introduced by the Committee on Federal and State Affairs to the state Senate on Thursday, Jan. 22. It was then referred to the Committee of Education to be revised on Friday, Jan. 23.

If the bill is passed, home-schooled students must follow guidelines set in place by the bill in order to participate in KSHSAA activities. These guidelines state students must be immunized, comply with the academic requirements set by the school where they play, follow KSHAA’s age and eligibility requirements, have liability insurance and be a resident of the school district where they play.

The Committee on Education has since passed a substitute bill that changed the original regulations of SB 60. The new bill passed the Senate 30-9 and reached the state House of Representatives on Wednesday, March 4.

KSHSAA executive director Gary Musselman said KSHSAA is against the bill because of the pride that comes with going to a public or private school.

“If anybody can just walk in the door and [participate] the privilege means very little,” Musselman said to The Wichita Eagle. “It diminishes the value of what it means to wear that uniform for East High or wherever, to earn your place on that team.”

Hurting school pride may not be the only issue on the line. Determining how academically eligible a student is could pose a problem for high schools if the bill passes.

“We make sure [students are] in line with KSHSAA. We’re very aware of the courses that those students are taking because they’re taking them at our school,” activities director David Ewers said. “The home schooling, we’re not quite sure. We can’t without a doubt know what’s going on there [scholastically].”

However, home-schooled senior Alex Goertz, who plays on Metro Academy, a home-school basketball team, supports the bill because of equality and proximity.

“I’m for it personally because I think there should be equal opportunity for everyone,” Goertz said. “I live in Lawrence, but my home-school team is in Kansas City, so I have to drive to Kansas City every day for practice and, if I were to play with a high school, that’s three minutes away from my house.”

Football coach Michael Strack agrees with Goertz’s claim. With this, he wants KSHSAA to hold home-schooled students to the same standard as public and private school students.

“I am supportive of home-school kids having an opportunity to be involved,” Strack said. “I just hope the state would find way to make sure they would police it the same way they do public school kids.”

Although junior quiz bowl member Ryan Schwaab isn’t opposed to SB 60 either, he said having home-schooled participants on a public school team would mess with the team’s chemistry.

“I think that it would actually decrease morale,” Schwaab said. “I think that it would be better if all the kids were from the same school because they know each other, because they’re friends.”

According to Ewers, if the bill does pass, the activities department will have to learn how to regulate home-schooled students who want to compete in school activities.

“We may have to make a decision on how we address it and how we move forward or how we handle those kids that want to participate,” Ewers said. “It has nothing to do with being against kids, it’s just protecting the sanctity of what [KSHSAA] is about.”