A report on the Salt Lake Tribune’s website tells us that Sen. Mark Madsen (R) failed for the last three years to move a bill forward to allow homeschoolers to participate in sports because the bill had “too many loopholes for failing students to participate in sports and wouldn’t have held home-schooled students to the same academic standards as traditional students.”

But this year:

The bill would require the parents or teachers of home-schooled students who wanted to participate in sports to sign affidavits saying their students are academically up to par.

And this year, the bill would allow others to contest those affidavits with school principals if they felt they weren’t true. Home-schooled students who could pass the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test (UBSCT) would be considered academically eligible. If a contested student had not yet taken the UBSCT, a superintendent-appointed panel of individuals with home-schooling experience would ultimately decide the student’s eligibility.

The bill has passed out of committee and is headed to the floor. This is clearly one to watch develop both to see how the legislative process treats the bill, but also how it plays out in communities if it should pass. Read the article here.