HF 189 (LSB 1557HV (2) 91)

HOUSE FILE 189

BY  COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

(SUCCESSOR TO HF 1)

(As Amended and Passed by the House 2025-03-19)

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.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 280.13, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   280.13  Requirements for interscholastic athletic contests and competitions.
   1.  A public school shall not participate in or allow students representing a public school to participate in any extracurricular interscholastic athletic contest or competition which is sponsored or administered by an organization as defined in this section, unless the organization is registered with the department of education, files financial statements with the department in the form and at the intervals prescribed by the director of the department of education, and is in compliance with rules which the state board of education adopts for the proper administration, supervision, operation, adoption of eligibility requirements, and scheduling of extracurricular interscholastic athletic contests and competitions and the organizations.
   2.  a.  For the purposes of this section “organization” means a corporation, association, or organization to which all of the following apply:
   (1)  The corporation, association, or organization has as one of its primary purposes the sponsoring or administration of extracurricular interscholastic athletic contests or competitions, but. 
   (2)  The corporation, association, or organization monitors student participation in extracurricular interscholastic athletic contests or competitions pursuant to section 280.13D.
   (3)  The corporation, association, or organization, when calculating a public school’s or nonpublic school’s enrollment to determine the classification of an extracurricular interscholastic athletic contest or competition provided by the public school or nonpublic school, counts the enrollment of another public school or nonpublic school that allows students to participate in an extracurricular interscholastic athletic contest or competition that is provided by the public school or nonpublic school pursuant to section 280.13A or 280.13D, as one-fourth of the enrollment of students in grades nine through eleven in the other public school or nonpublic school as shown in the most recent basic education data survey.
   b.  “Organization” does not include an agency of this state, a public or private school or school board, or an athletic conference or other association whose interscholastic contests or competitions do not include more than twenty-four schools.
    Sec. 2.  NEW SECTION.  280.13D  Participation in extracurricular interscholastic athletic contests or competitions provided by public schools.
   1.  a.  The board of directors of a school district shall allow a student who resides within the school district and who is enrolled in a nonpublic school to participate in any extracurricular interscholastic athletic contest or competition that is provided by the school district, but that has not been provided by the nonpublic school during the two immediately preceding school years, pursuant to the terms of an agreement between the board of directors of the school district and the authorities in charge of the nonpublic school that provides for the eligibility of the student.
   b.  The board of directors of a school district shall allow a student who resides within a contiguous school district and who is enrolled in a nonpublic school to participate in any extracurricular interscholastic athletic contest or competition that is provided by the school district, but that has not been provided by the nonpublic school or by the student’s school district of residence during the two immediately preceding school years, pursuant to the terms of an agreement between the board of directors of the school district and the authorities in charge of the nonpublic school that provides for the eligibility of the student.
   c.  If the board of directors of a school district has established a fee for the cost of a student’s participation in an extracurricular interscholastic athletic contest or competition, a student who is enrolled in a nonpublic school and is participating in a contest or competition at a public school pursuant to paragraph “a” or “b”, or the student’s parent or guardian, shall be responsible for the payment of such fee. The amount of such fee shall not exceed the amount of the fee the board of directors of the school district has established for students who are enrolled in the school district.
   2.  A student who is enrolled in a nonpublic school and is participating in a contest or competition at a public school pursuant to subsection 1, paragraph “a” or “b”, shall participate under the same conditions as a student who is enrolled in the school district, including meeting the school district’s student code of conduct requirements.
   3.  A student who participates in an extracurricular interscholastic athletic contest or competition pursuant to this section shall be deemed to satisfy the residence requirements for purposes of section 256.46.
    Sec. 3.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act, being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.