Meeting Public Comments

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SF 2212

A bill for an act relating to interscholastic athletic scrimmages between schools and nonaccredited home school sports organizations, and including effective date provisions.(See SF 2392.)

Agenda

Subcommittee members: Pike-CH, Donahue, Salmon

Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Time: 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM

Location: Room 217 Conference Room

Comments Submitted:

The purpose of comments is to provide information to members of the subcommittee.

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

02-15-2026

Brian VandenBerg

I played basketball for a small private school in Mason City and we had to travel longer than 2 hours for some games. It would be great for small accredited schools to be able to play other small public schools varsity level sports in the area.

02-16-2026

Jason Dannen [NICS ]

I support encouraging small schools like North Iowa Christian School to play games with local schools rather than driving to other states to play. More games in local Iowa communities allows us to spend money for meals and travel in those communities rather than supporting large communities like Rochester and the Twin Cities. It helps our small schools have more competitive matches/games, and it allows for freedom and choice for our small school. This legislation removes unnecessary barriers that currently prevent Iowa schools from supporting one another.

02-16-2026

Jeremy Plathe [Sioux City Warriors Homeschool Basketball]

As a parent of homeschooled children, I am writing to express my strong support for this bill. Its passage would be a gamechanger for homeschool teams, particularly in midsized metropolitan areas like Sioux City, by allowing us to compete more frequently within our own community. Currently, our families must regularly travel two to three hours just to find opposing teams. This bill would bridge that gap, enabling us to face local programs with similar skill levels. Providing these opportunities for balanced competition will help all local athletesboth homeschooled and traditionally schooledchallenge one another and improve together.

02-16-2026

Amanda Ives

We have homeschooled all of our children and have ended up sending our kids to highschool at accredited Christian schools so that they could play sports at another level. This bill would enable children of homeschooled families to have the opportunity to participate in sports and also give greater competition and availability. The amount of travel time would be reduced as well as we do have to travel quite far for some games to be able to find other homeschool teams to play. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

02-16-2026

Dara Appleby

As a homeschooling parent of 20 years, I would greatly appreciate having more options for playing sports locally with accredited and/or nonaccredited schools. My two youngest kids have been able to enjoy the opportunity of being in homeschool basketball and volleyball that my older kids did not get to enjoylargely due to the time commitments of having to travel long distances for games, scrimmages and out of state tournaments. I support this bill and anything that would help provide homeschool programs more flexibility.

02-12-2026

Andrew Olson

Opening up a he option for scrimmages and games for homeschooling associations benefits all children both Male and Female. It could potentially limit the amount of travel the homeschoolers have to do to give the opportunity for their kids, my 5 included. It would build character and association with other children in the area that could last a lifetime. The government shouldnt restrict freedoms of anybody and this includes those who choose to homeschool.

02-13-2026

Curtis Powers

To whom it may concern:I want to register my support for this bill. As the parent of a homeschool high school basketball player, anything that can be done to provide homeschool programs more flexibility in terms of scheduling scrimmages, games, etc. is appreciated. We travel to surrounding states to play in tournaments and it would be nice to not have to travel as much in the future.Thank you for your consideration.Cordially,Curtis PowersBoone, IA

02-16-2026

John Fiala

Allowing schools to scrimmage homeschool teams would be a great way to strengthen Iowa communities. Access to more scrimmage opportunities not only benefits a childs skill development and physical conditioning, but it allows more friendships to build amongst peers in local neighborhoods. More options allow for more opportunities that can benefit all involved. For instance, schools that may have many teams or players at each grade level would be able to supplement some homeschool scrimmages to keep kids engaged in the sport (so they dont quit if their not on the A team or arent getting primary playing time). It could also be a great avenue for schools to practice against friendly competition. For instance, a public school team might be able to find solid scrimmage opportunities against a homeschool team where they can practice new plays and enact game scenarios (without it impacting their record or being worried about giving plays away to their direct competitors).

02-16-2026

Luke Reese

As a homeschool parent, I like the option for our kids to have the multiple options to choose from. Being a home school parent of sporting teams, often sports are limited to who is in the area, or by driving long distances. This year alone we are playing many of the same local teams multiple times. I would love the opportunity to for them to participate a higher degree of sports and give them more a more competition. Flexibilty would be nice to have more choices to choose from.