House File 423 - Introduced
HOUSE FILE
BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
(SUCCESSOR TO HF 129)
Passed House, Date Passed Senate, Date
Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays
Approved
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to participation in secondary school
2 interscholastic sports at the varsity and inferior levels.
3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
4 TLSB 1466HV 81
5 kh/pj/5
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. Section 256.46, Code 2005, is amended to read
1 2 as follows:
1 3 256.46 RULES FOR PARTICIPATION IN EXTRACURRICULAR
1 4 ACTIVITIES BY CERTAIN CHILDREN.
1 5 The state board shall adopt rules that permit a child who
1 6 does not meet the residence requirements for participation in
1 7 extracurricular interscholastic contests or competitions
1 8 sponsored or administered by an organization as defined in
1 9 section 280.13 to participate in the contests or competitions
1 10 immediately if the child is duly enrolled in a school, is
1 11 otherwise eligible to participate, and meets one of the
1 12 following circumstances or a similar circumstance: the child
1 13 has been adopted; the child is placed under foster or shelter
1 14 care; the child is living with one of the child's parents as a
1 15 result of divorce, separation, death, or other change in the
1 16 child's parents' marital relationship, or pursuant to other
1 17 court=ordered decree or order of custody; the child is a
1 18 foreign exchange student; the child has been placed in a
1 19 juvenile correctional facility; the child is a ward of the
1 20 court or the state; the child is a participant in a substance
1 21 abuse or mental health program; or the child is enrolled in an
1 22 accredited nonpublic high school because the child's district
1 23 of residence has entered into a whole grade sharing agreement
1 24 for the pupil's grade with another district. The rules shall
1 25 permit a child who is otherwise eligible to participate, but
1 26 who does not meet one of the foregoing or similar
1 27 circumstances relating to residence requirements, to
1 28 participate at any level of competition inferior to the
1 29 varsity level. For purposes of this section and section
1 30 282.18, "varsity" means the highest level of competition
1 31 offered by one school or school district against the highest
1 32 level of competition offered by an opposing school or school
1 33 district.
1 34 Sec. 2. Section 282.18, subsection 13, Code 2005, is
1 35 amended to read as follows:
2 1 13. A pupil who participates in open enrollment for
2 2 purposes of attending a grade in grades ten nine through
2 3 twelve in a school district other than the district of
2 4 residence is ineligible to participate in varsity
2 5 interscholastic athletic contests and athletic competitions
2 6 during the pupil's first ninety school days of enrollment in
2 7 the district except that the pupil may participate immediately
2 8 in an a varsity interscholastic sport if the pupil is entering
2 9 grade nine for the first time and did not participate in an
2 10 interscholastic athletic competition for another school or
2 11 school district during the summer immediately following eighth
2 12 grade, if the district of residence and the other school
2 13 district jointly participate in the sport, if the sport in
2 14 which the pupil wishes to participate is not offered in the
2 15 district of residence, if the pupil chooses to use open
2 16 enrollment to attend school in another school district because
2 17 the district in which the student previously attended school
2 18 was dissolved and merged with one or more contiguous school
2 19 districts under section 256.11, subsection 12, if the pupil
2 20 participates in open enrollment because the pupil's district
2 21 of residence has entered into a whole grade sharing agreement
2 22 with another district for the pupil's grade, or if the parent
2 23 or guardian of the pupil participating in open enrollment is
2 24 an active member of the armed forces and resides in permanent
2 25 housing on government property provided by a branch of the
2 26 armed services. A pupil who has paid tuition and attended
2 27 school, or has attended school pursuant to a mutual agreement
2 28 between the two districts, in a district other than the
2 29 pupil's district of residence for at least one school year
2 30 prior to March 10, 1989, is also eligible to participate
2 31 immediately in interscholastic athletic contests and athletic
2 32 competitions under this section, but only as a member of a
2 33 team from the district that pupil had attended. For purposes
2 34 of this subsection, "school days of enrollment" do does not
2 35 include enrollment in summer school. For purposes of this
3 1 subsection, "varsity" means the same as defined in section
3 2 256.46.
3 3 EXPLANATION
3 4 This bill makes a child eligible to participate immediately
3 5 in extracurricular interscholastic athletic contests or
3 6 competitions sponsored by bona fide extracurricular
3 7 interscholastic athletic organizations, as long as the child
3 8 is otherwise eligible to participate and the contests or
3 9 competitions are below the varsity level. The bill also makes
3 10 a ninth grade student who participates in open enrollment
3 11 eligible to participate immediately in a varsity
3 12 interscholastic sport if the pupil is entering grade nine for
3 13 the first time.
3 14 The bill strikes a date, which effectively makes any pupil
3 15 who paid tuition to attend a school, or attended a school
3 16 pursuant to an agreement between two districts, in a district
3 17 other than the district of residence, eligible to participate
3 18 immediately in contests and competitions, but only as a member
3 19 of a team from the district of the school that the pupil
3 20 attended.
3 21 The bill defines "varsity" as the highest level of students
3 22 of one school in competition against the highest level of
3 23 students of one or more other schools.
3 24 LSB 1466HV 81
3 25 kh:rj/pj/5