Florida bill to expand athletic opportunities for private school students heads to governor

Legislation heading to the desk of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would expand athletic opportunities for private school students. 

The Florida Senate overwhelmingly passed a measure strengthening the state’s “Tim Tebow law” on Wednesday after the House passed it with bipartisan support last week. 

The proposal will allow private school students to participate in local public school sports that their private schools lack. 

Many states have similar laws allowing homeschooled students to participate in their local public schools’ interscholastic sports, dubbed “Tebow laws” after Florida’s own Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow. However, not all laws extend the same opportunity to private school students. 

Smaller private schools often lack the resources to offer the same interscholastic sports programs as their nearby public schools, which are funded in part by taxpayers who send their children to private schools. 

The Florida bill has the support of many private school leaders. 

“The best thing we can do for our kids is to give them options to play in sports,” Community Leadership Academy founder Peter Boulware told WCTV in February. 

“Get them involved, get them playing, get them in something,” he added. “The more we can do that, the opportunities we can give our students, the better we can make our students.” 

CLA is a private K-12 school in Tallahassee. It offers nine sports but lacks teams in popular sports such as football, baseball, softball and lacrosse.  

“Kids who might not have access to other sports might find that ‘Hey, I do want to play lacrosse that they have over at Leon High School,’ or Rickards, or some other place,” Cornerstone Learning Community Director Jason Flom told the Famuan. 

If DeSantis signs the bill, which is expected, the law would take effect on July 1, before the 2025-2026 school year begins. 

Meanwhile, Missouri is working to improve athletic opportunities for homeschooled students. 

The Missouri House recently passed a bill to let homeschoolers play for their local school district’s sports teams without requiring instructional hours at the school. The bill now returns to the Senate for a final vote, where it is expected to pass. 

State Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, told the Republic Monitor the bill “ensures that every child has access to opportunities that add to and foster their academic, social and personal growth.”