BRENHAM SCHOOL BOARD OPTS OUT OF HOMESCHOOL PARTICIPATION IN UIL EVENTS
The Brenham School Board chose today (Monday) to not allow homeschool students to participate in University Interscholastic League (UIL) events.
School districts are required under a new state law, Senate Bill 401 from the 89th Legislature, to adopt policies by September 1st – and August 1st in future years – indicating if they will elect not to allow private or homeschool student participation in league events. Before the new law, districts could choose to opt in, but now they are automatically opted in and must decide whether they will remain that way or to only allow enrolled students to take part in UIL activities.
While several board members said they supported the concept of opening up extracurricular activities to homeschool students, uncertainty about the potential impact to Brenham ISD’s finances and operations gave most of them pause, though they invited the possibility of returning to this discussion at a later time.
District administrators, including Chief of Staff Christine Johnson and Chief Communications and Engagement Officer Brooke Trahan, said choosing that path would present a lot of unknowns. They stated that the district’s budget is based off of average daily attendance (ADA), and if homeschool students are not subject to the same qualifications or accountability as enrolled students, they felt that could result in a regression in student enrollment. Trahan also said that extracurriculars are a large part of what drives students to come to school in the first place.
However, Trustee Kyle Hafner expressed support of the measure after learning that the district would receive a stipend of $1,500 per league activity that a non-enrolled student is involved in, per House Bill 3708 from the 88th Legislature. He said Brenham’s culture is one that should strive to embrace everyone, and he expressed confidence that the experiences homeschool students would have in Brenham ISD’s programs would incentivize them to fully join the district.
Board President Jared Krenek said he spoke to several coaches leading up to this vote, and they each were against it, as they felt it was not fair to the students putting in the full time and effort to participate. He said with questions about how to monitor student grades and discipline, there is “too much gray” at the moment. Trustee Shawn Koonce acknowledged that homeschool is the proper environment for some students, but he feels that the district and the state do not have the necessary “guardrails” up to operate this successfully right now, particularly as the district is already thin on staff. Trustee Archer Archer said he agreed with Hafner in that it would be good to invite the full community into Brenham ISD, but it does not seem like the district and state are ready to tackle it right now.
Trustees voted 5-1 on the issue, with Hafner voting in favor of allowing homeschool students to be involved. Board Secretary Kelvin Raven, a lieutenant in the Brenham Police Department, had to leave the board meeting prior to the vote. One public comment at the start of the meeting expressed support of permitting homeschool student participation.
Also at today’s meeting, the board approved contracts with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) and Great Minds as Texas Education Agency (TEA)-approved providers for the Learning Acceleration Support Opportunities (LASO) grant.
The funding supports the district’s implementation of Bluebonnet Math, including $144,000 for K-5 math and $200,000 for secondary math. Per TEA grant requirements, half of the funding must be allocated to the TEA-approved providers.
Click here to listen to the YouTube livestream of Monday's meeting.