Meeting Public Comments

Subcommittee meeting and times are as follows:

A bill for an act relating to the eligibility of students enrolled in nonpublic schools to compete in extracurricular interscholastic athletic contests or competitions provided by public schools, and including effective date provisions.(See HF 189.)

Subcommittee members: Stone-CH, Behn, Matson

Date: Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Time: 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Location: RM 304

Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.

Comments Submitted:

01-22-2025

Laura Teske

I would like to express my opposition to this bill. We are currently financing 27,866 students through the ESA program, diverting funding from local public schools. It should not be the responsibility of public schools, who are losing millions of dollars in funding, to provide these activities for private school students. They should be expected to pool their resources, just as public schools do, to provide extracurricular contests and competitions. There should no longer be a concern about their funding, as they are receiving similar amounts as public schools.One of the choices involved in attending a private school is deciding if they offer the extracurricular programs their children would like to be involved in. If not, there are travel teams and private organizations available to provide those services. They can also develop their own leagues and competitions, just as homeschool students do. I hope that you will reject this bill. We are providing enough funding for private schools from public tax dollars. We should not have to also subsidize their extracurricular activities with public school resources.