Tim Tebow Bill Killed in Mississippi Legislature

With a floor action deadline looming Friday in the Mississippi legislature, many bills were pushed through or killed in both the House and Senate Thursday.

One bill that didn’t make the cut was the Tim Tebow Bill. The Tim Tebow Bill or Senate Bill 2329 died in Mississippi Thursday. The bill would have allowed for children who were homeschooled to be able to play sports or join in other extracurricular activities in public schools.

The bill’s author, Senator Joey Fillingane, says there is no reason that parents who pay state and local taxes to support public schools should be prohibited from signing their kids up for extracurricular activities, even if they are not enrolled in the school. Homeschool mom, Erica Moore, feared the bill was too invasive into homeschoolers’ rights and needed more clarity. Moore says, "It didn’t guarantee that homeschoolers were going to be able to play public school sports. It just made them eligible and then it was up to the district, so the district could still say no."

While some public school parents are glad that the bill failed, other public school parents believe that homeschooled children need that interaction with other children their own age. Lashea Pickett, a public school mom, says, "If you’re at home all day with your parents, then you’re not getting that extra social thing that we got when we were younger. You have to be able to be around other children that’s your age in order to get that."

More than 24 states allow private or homeschooled children to join public school extracurricular activities. While many schools in Mississippi do allow individual cases of homeschooled students to participate in sports, this bill would require schools to allow the homeschooled students in and would prevent discrimination.