Florida High School Sports Association

Do you have a high school student interested in playing sports at a public or private school?

Florida High School Athletic Association regulates high school sports. www.fhsaa.org 

Laws have changed, and effective July 2008 there is a new form that must be completed by homeschoolers to play. 

EL7   Athletic Participation Registration Form for Home Education Student **Revised 06/08**    (This will open the July 2008 pdf)

 Here is a direct link to the new EL7   http://www.fhsaa.org/forms/pdf/EL07_home_reg.pdf

The Verification of Student Registration with Public School District Home Education Office (page two) must now be signed by the Coordinator – Mattie Young (Lee County School District.)

You may call her office and speak with Vicki 337-8264 to make arrangements for this form to be signed.

Transcripts for student since he/she entered the 9^th grade must be attached.  A Sample is provided that you may use to prepare a transcript for your student.  You must list subjects taken, grade given and a cumulative GPA.  Student must maintain a cumulative 2.0 grade point average.  If the student has not yet entered the 9^th grade, you should attach a copy of the annual evaluations for the student since entering the 6^th grade.

It is crucial that your forms are completely filled out and turned in.  The EL7 along with required documentation must be forwarded to the FHSAA Office by the principal of the FHSAA member school.  Student must be approved by the FHSAA office before the first official competition date or your child will be ineligible to participate for that sport season.  The FHSAA must approve your child’s eligibility before he/she can participate in practice.  You can locate date of the first practice and first official date of competition on the FHSAA Calendar for each sport.   ( http://fhsaa.org/rules/calendar ) 

For other required forms go to:   http://www.fhsaa.org/compliance/  and click:

           EL 2 -  Preparticipation Physical Evaluation

           EL 3 – Consent and Release from Liability Certificate

          EL- 9 - If student participates in sports and wants to continue playing the second semester, a Home Education Academic Progress Report (EL9) must be filed with school within 7 days of the close of the first semester.

Be informed!

A student is only eligible for extracurricular activities (s.1006.15 F.S.) by registering with the school district in a Home Education Program and meeting the requirements of s.1002.41 F.S.

A student cannot be enrolled/registered as a full-time student, working toward high school completion or a diploma with a Florida private school, at the same time he/she is registered in a home education program. 

Florida law does not distinguish between the various kinds of private schools.  A private school by any name is a Florida private school if it has a Florida Department of Education school number.

If a child takes more than half of his/her courses, reports attendance or earns enough credits to receive a diploma at a single Florida private or public school, then the student becomes a student of that school and is not a home education student.

A home education program must be directed by the parent and the parent must maintain the portfolio and submit the annual evaluation to the superintendent’s designee’s office.  However, parents have many educational options from which to choose.  Some of these options are:  correspondence courses, video courses, online courses, the Florida Virtual School, dual enrollment, early admission, part-time enrollment in a public school or private school, cooperatives formed by parents, and tutors.

Note:  Out-of-state correspondence schools, such as Bob Jones, Calvert or the American School, generally do not have a Florida private school number.  Therefore, students registered in a school or program without a Florida school number do not meet the requirements of s. 1003.01(13) for attendance purposes and must be registered in a home education program in the county in which the student resides.

Athletics are very competitive and the stakes are high.  A student who is registered in both a home education program and a Florida private school during the same school year could be reported to the FHSAA and found ineligible to participate in extracurricular activities.  If a school has an ineligible player on the team, regardless of the reason, the entire team could be disqualified for the state play-off series and be required to forfeit all games in which the ineligible player participated.

Participation in FHSAA is a privilege, not a right, as determined by the courts.  Home education students are given the opportunity to participate, but they must meet the same eligibility requirements as other students in public and private schools.

These excerpts have been compiled from several sites for your review.   Carol Benson    08/04/08

To learn more: 

            Frequently Asked Questions - http://www.fhsaa.org/compliance/files/home_ed.pdf

            Home Education Foundation  -  http://www.flhef.org/extracurricular-activities/sports.html

            FHSAA By-laws - http://www.fhsaa.org/rules/handbook/0708_handbook.pdf

            Florida High School Athletic Association http://www.fhsaa.org

   Send mail to INFO@CHESF.org with questions or comments about this web site.
   Last modified: August 31, 2010