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Friday, August 28, 1998
Home schooler denied access to UIL activities
By CHIP BROWN AP Sports Writer
AUSTIN (AP) - A state district judge Thursday denied an injunction
that would have allowed a Corpus Christi home schooler to play
softball on a public high school team.
Amy Ensminger and her parents had sued the Corpus Christi Independent
School District and the University Interscholastic League, arguing
that the state had no justifiable reason to keep the 16-year-old
from playing softball for a public school.
But attorneys for the UIL and the school district contended,
among other things, that there would be no way to verify if home
schoolers were full-time students and meeting the academic standards
of "no-pass, no-play."
After hearing more than an hour's worth of arguments, state
District Judge Pete Lowry denied the injunction.
Ensminger's attorneys said they would appeal the decision.
"I have the right," Ensminger said. "My parents
pay the full taxes, and I am a full-time student at home.
"I have the right to play with the schools or participate
in any of the extracurricular activities. It's there for the kids,
and I'm a kid, and I should be able to benefit from it."
Ensminger's attorneys had originally argued that her being
denied access to extracurricular activities hurt her chances for
a scholarship. They also had said Amy should be able to play for
Miller High School, where a number of teammates from a summer
league team are playing, even though she lives in the attendance
zone of Corpus Christi King High School.
On Thursday, those arguments changed. Her attorneys said she
would play for King High School. And they said the case wasn't
about diminished chances of getting a scholarship, but rather
that Amy was a top-notch student who exceeded no-pass, no-play
guidelines and thus should be an exception to the UIL rules.
Her attorneys said Ensminger's academic progress could be measured
with standardized tests.
Despite those changes, Lowry still was not persuaded.
When Ensminger was asked why she wouldn't simply enroll in
public schools, her father, George, said, "That's not an
option for us." The family has said they want their daughter
to learn in a religious atmosphere.
UIL Director Bill Farney praised Lowry's ruling. He said UIL
and Texas Education Agency guidelines would have been gutted if
Ensminger were allowed to compete in public schools.
"We would be holding a standard for the students who were
attending public schools, and then holding those students who
were home schooled to a different standard," Farney said.
"You can't test core knowledge progress with a standardized
test, and you also have no determinant home school curriculum.
One parent may be teaching 'life along the Amazon' one semester
and one may be into theater or English literature. You're trying
to put apples and oranges together.
"But we do have a lot of home school students in this
state, so I'm sure this issue is not going to go away."
Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Coalition,
said 75,000 families in Texas home school their children.
"The civil rights laws in the 1960s forced the UIL to
deal with racial bias," Lambert said. "It's time for
the UIL to do away with the last vestiges of discrimination against
home school students."
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