Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6.

Present law provides that, if any of the public schools established under the jurisdiction of an LEA are members of an organization or an association that regulates interscholastic athletic competition, and if such organization or association establishes or maintains eligibility requirements for home school students desiring to participate in interscholastic athletics at a member school, then the LEA must permit participation in interscholastic athletics at those schools by home school students who satisfy the eligibility requirements established by the organization or association. Present law does not guarantee that a home school student trying out for an interscholastic athletic team will make the team, nor does present law supplant the authority of coaches or other school officials in deciding who makes the team Present law only intends to guarantee that a home school student is not prohibited from trying out for an interscholastic athletics team, if the student is eligible under the rules of the organization or association, solely by reason of the student's status as a home school student. Additionally, present law does not limit or supplant the authority of the organization or association to determine eligibility and to establish, modify and enforce its rules and eligibility requirements, including those applicable to home school students. This bill prohibits public schools, including public charter schools, from using public funds to join, become members of, or maintain membership in an association that regulates interscholastic athletics unless the association’s bylaws allow a home school student to immediately participate in an interscholastic athletic offered by the public school if the student: (1) Was enrolled in the public school in the immediately preceding school year; (2) Withdrew from the public school in good standing; (3) Participated as a member of an interscholastic athletic team at the public school in the school year immediately preceding the student’s withdrawal to attend a home school; (4) Wishes to continue participating as a member of the same interscholastic athletic team as a home school student; and (5) Is in good standing as a home school student. Additionally, this bill prohibits such association's bylaws from requiring a home school student who meets the qualifications in (1)-(5) above to be declared ineligible for immediate participation in an interscholastic athletic due to changing or transferring schools, or changing the residence that places the student outside the territory, jurisdiction, or geographic boundaries of the LEA or public school at which the student was previously enrolled. This bill provides that the above restrictions do not prohibit an association that regulates interscholastic athletics from declaring a student ineligible for immediate participation in an interscholastic athletic at a public school if the home school student enrolls in another public or private school, nor do they allow a home school student to participate in an interscholastic athletic offered by the public school at which the student was previously enrolled if the home school student is not the age or grade level required to participate. Under this bill, if a home school student meets the qualifications in (1)-(5) above, and if the public school offers the interscholastic athletic that the student previously participated in while enrolled in the public school, then the public school is prohibited from doing the following: (1) Prohibiting the student from participating as a member of the interscholastic athletic team; or (2) Requiring the student to try out in order to participate as a member of the interscholastic athletic team if the student’s participation in the interscholastic athletic is continuous.