Texas does not have a law granting homeschooled students the right to participate in public school classes and activities; thus, the individual schools and school districts have the authority to decide whether to allow homeschooler participation. Policies often vary from district to district.
School districts must give homeschooled students an opportunity to participate in activities governed by the University Interscholastic League (UIL) on the same basis that public school students can participate, unless the district adopts a specific policy declining to permit that opportunity. A homeschool student is only permitted to participate in extracurricular activities in the district he or she would attend. If the school that the student would attend has a policy prohibiting homeschooled students from participating in UIL activities, the student may instead participate through the closest school geographically to their place of residence (Tex. Educ. Code Ann. § 33.0832).
Students wishing to participate in public school classes or extracurricular activities should contact their local school for information regarding their district's policy.
Things to keep in mind:
Public school access includes participation in public school classes, sports, activities, etc.
States use a unique vocabulary in this area: “extracurricular,” “cocurricular,” “curricular,” “interscholastic,” “program,” “activity,” etc. Care should be taken to distinguish one from another. When a state defines a word, it is important.
While athletic association rules are not “law,” public schools are generally constrained to operate within them, or their teams could be disqualified. We therefore refer to association rules of particular importance in a number of entries.
We strive toward keeping this information 100% up to date in this rapidly changing area of the law. However, this post should not be considered authoritative because of the possibility of unobserved changes in association rules, statutes, regulations, or case decisions, and because of lag time between changes and the publication of updates.
Please note: The information on this page has been reviewed by an attorney, but it should not be taken as legal advice specific to your individual situation.