New TEA Rule Financially Incentivizes Public Schools to Allow Home Schoolers to Participate in their UIL Activities

This newly adopted TEA rule will result in public school districts (ISDs and charters) receiving $1,500 per “non-enrolled” (home-school) student that the district allows to participate in the district’s UIL activities.

The final TEA rule was published in the July 26 Texas Register, to be effective on Aug. 4.

The adopted rule implements 2023’s HB3708 that specifies that public schools will receive an annual $1,500 allotment for home-schooled students participating in the public schools’ UIL activities.

• Note: Lawmakers passed HB3708 to provide financial incentives after few school districts chose to allow home schoolers to participate in their UIL activities as allowed under legislation passed in 2021.

Wording Change
The education commissioner, in adopting the final TEA rule, made a wording change — suggested by the Texas Home School Coalition — to clarify that public school districts would be entitled to the annual $1,500 allotment for each UIL activity in which the non-enrolled student participates.

The coalition successfully argued that an earlier version of the rule (that was proposed for public comment) could be misconstrued to mean that a school district would receive only one $1,500 state allotment for the UIL activity regardless of the number of home-school students participating in the activity.

The commissioner did, however, reject a suggestion by an individual who commented that the rule should be changed so that a home-schooled student could participate in UIL activities in any school district that allows home-school student participation, and not just the district (if the district allows home-school participation) in which the home-schooled student lives.

The TEA noted that the home-school public school district residency mandate is contained in state law.

Additional info about the adopted TEA rule is posted here. The UIL maintains home-school participation info here.