by Barnini Chakraborty
ATLANTA — A bill clearing the way for homeschooled students to participate in bands, drama, sports and other activities offered by their local public schools probably won’t pass this year, said Sen. Richard Marable, D-Rome. “I have not seen a groundswell of support from a united front of homeschoolers or from the public schools,” said Marable, chairman of the Senate Education Committee and a special education teacher at Rome High School. “Basically, it will be the same folks that saw it in committee last year and I don’t see the committee voting differently at this point.” Diana Williams has never been in a school club. Not because she doesn’t want to, but because homeschooled students can’t take part in extracurricular activities. “I think it would be great if I were interested in clubs and sports,” said Williams, a 16-year-old from Dalton. “We’re thinking about having a dance next year with area homeschoolers. That could be fun.” The measure is being considered by the legislature, but a similar bill introduced in Georgia last year stalled in Marable’s committee. Attempts to contact Larry Atwell, Rome City Schools superintendent, and Kelly Henson, Floyd County Schools superintendent, were unsuccessful Sunday. A 1999 survey found that about 850,000 of the nation’s 50 million school children are being taught at home. The U.S. Education Department calculates that 1.7 percent of American children were homeschooled in 1999. Last year, 1.5 million to 1.9 million children were homeschooled, according to the National Home Education Research Institute, a study group in Salem, Ore. It’s unclear how many Georgians are homeschooled. One of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Charlie Tanksley, R-Marietta, says the parents of homeschooled students pay taxes that go toward public education and should be able to benefit from them. “Is it somewhat inconsistent that they want to take advantage of part of what the public system provides and not take another part?” Tanksley asked. “That may appear inconsistent but I don’t know it’s unfair.” Some homeschool parents admit not taking part in activities is a choice they have to make before pulling their kids out of public schools. “It’s kind of a mixed bag,” said Williams’ mother, Gayle. “If they don’t like schools for the academic part then they shouldn’t use it for the other.” Some homeschool parents are worried that the bill would allow schools to put restrictions on students who participate in activities. For example, a school could require potential athletes to pass an achievement test to be eligible for sports. “I would have enjoyed (the proposed rule) if there weren’t stings attached,” Augusta mother and homeschool teacher Lynn Reed said. “We had to invent things for our kids to make sure they had the same opportunities. I think it would be a wonderful addition to something we should have had all along.” Sean Ford, an eighth-grade homeschool student from Columbia County near Augusta, says, in the meantime, he’ll just have to play football with kids from his church. “It would be great to be on the football or baseball team, but right now, I know it’s not possible,” he said. “Right now, other than the kids I go to church with, I don’t really have a lot of people to do things like that with.”
Rome News-Tribune Deputy Editor Mike Colombo contributed to this report.