Eligibility of Home Schoolers to Participate in Athletics

CAPSS Statement on the Eligibility of Home Schoolers to
Participate in Interscholastic Athletics

Introduction
The Connecticut Association of Public Schools Superintendents (CAPSS) has developed this statement to clarify the organization's position on the eligibility of home schoolers to participate in interscholastic athletics as well as to describe the organizational relationship between CAPSS and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC). CIAC is governed by its member schools. These schools function under the direction of their respective school districts and superintendents.

CIAC was organized to stem the abuses which were prevalent at the time of its inception in the coordination of high school athletics including the manner in which high schools recruited athletes to play on their teams. The need for such oversight has not lessened over the past 75 years. Even today, CIAC is called upon regularly to curb practices which may give a particular school or team an unfair competitive advantage. Thus, a series of reasonable rules has been established over the decades to govern student eligibility for interscholastic competition. These rules are essential to providing a level playing field for all student athletes. It is within this context that CAPSS has taken the position stated in this paper regarding home schoolers in interscholastic athletics. It remains the superintendents' responsibility, individually and collectively, to ensure that interscholastic athletics can go forward in a manner that ensures a fair, safe and rewarding experience for all eligible students.

Position Statement

1.	Superintendents must not permit or endorse any change in CIAC rules and regulations which would compromise either the organization's eligibility standards for student participation in athletics or the CIAC's ability to monitor the application of those rules and regulations.
2.	CIAC eligibility requirements are monitored through the organization's designated member schools. Membership is based upon an institutional recognition by CIAC, including private schools approved by the State Department of Education.
3.	Eligibility to participate in interscholastic athletics is not to be extended to any student whose program is not under the direct supervision of a CIAC member school. This prohibition includes any recognition by member schools of home schooling as school district sponsored "alternative programs." Alternative programs, for the purposes of interscholastic athletics, are only to be recognized if they are developed by and function under the direct control of the local school system to serve the educational needs of targeted groups of students. Such programming generally relates to modifications in existing courses or placement in an alternative school which a district may sponsor and is available to all eligible students. The credit requirements of alternative programs must be consistent with and monitored in the same manner as the credit requirements of the school districts' regular high school programs.
4.	Any participation in interscholastic athletics at the local district level must be governed by what is permitted under CIAC eligibility standards and the enforcement/monitoring of those standards. What has been raised as a denial of opportunity by one or a small group of home schoolers is, in fact, a reasonable protection of fairness for the thousands of student athletes in Connecticut competing under a thoughtful set of statewide rules.
5.	Participation in interscholastic athletics has been and is limited to those students registered in the member schools/school districts. These students must follow all existing school practices as stated in Board of Education policy/regulations and the schools' student handbooks. This requirement is in the best interest of the students of Connecticut.