SF411

Purpose

• To require school boards to allow resident students who are educated at home to participate in extracurricular activities with the same access as public school students.

Main Provisions

• Board control: The school board must take charge of and control all extracurricular activities for students in the district.
• Eligibility for home-schooled students: All resident pupils who are instructed in a home school (defined elsewhere) and meet specified compliance requirements must be eligible to fully participate in extracurricular activities on the same basis as public school students.
• Definition and characteristics of extracurricular activities:
  • They are not offered for school credit and are not required for graduation.
  • They are generally conducted outside school hours, or partly during school hours at times agreed by participants and approved by school authorities.
  • The content is determined primarily by the pupil participants, under the guidance of a staff member or other adult.
• Funding and accounting:
  • Costs of these activities may be paid from school revenues.
  • All revenues and expenditures for these activities must be recorded in the same manner as other district revenues and expenditures.
• Restrictions on participation and branding:
  • Teachers or pupils in the district must not participate in such activities, and the school name or any allied name cannot be used in connection with the activities without the board’s consent and direction.
• Revenue management:
  • A school district must reserve revenue raised for extracurricular activities and spend it only for extracurricular activities.

Significance and Changes to Existing Law

• Expands access: Extends eligibility for extracurricular participation to resident home-schooled students within the district.
• Places governance on the board: Establishes that boards control and oversee all district extracurricular activities.
• Aligns funding and records: Requires consistent treatment of revenues and expenditures for extracurricular activities with other district finances.
• Maintains boundaries and branding: Requires board consent for participation and any use of school names in connection with these activities.
• References compliance standards: Ties eligibility to specified sections related to home schooling and district policies.

Potential Implications

• Increased participation opportunities for home-schooled students.
• Greater administrative oversight and potential changes in district budgeting and accounting practices.
• Clarified rules around who can participate and how activities are branded and funded.

Relevant terms - home school, resident pupil, extracurricular activities, board control, school revenues, revenues and expenditures, guidance of a staff member, not for credit, not for graduation, outside school hours, times agreed, consent and direction of the board, compliance with sections 120A22, 120A24, 123B36(1)(a)