SB248 Passed! Clarifying the Craig Dickinson Act (1006.15)

Yesterday was an AWESOME day for 1006.15 and Brenda Dickinson. The Craig Dickinson Act (found in Florida Statute 1006.15) has been under duress recently, with school districts refusing to allow home education or PEP students to participate in sports at their school of choice--despite the statute stating that home education students can participate in extracurriculars at any school they could choose under 1002.31 (the "Controlled Open Enrollment" statute).

Often, the school districts were citing "capacity" as the reason for this denial, even though capacity does not apply to extracurriculars. (See this recent Livestream video for a deep-dive on this argument.)

Now, however, Senator Simon has championed a clarification that will prevent the school districts from denying home education and PEP students from playing sports at their chosen schools. His amendment to SB248 stated in clear language that:

An individual home education student is eligible to participate on an interscholastic athletic team at any public school in the school district in which the student resides, provided the student meets the conditions specified in subparagraph 1.

(bold emphasis ours)

This bill (with his amendment) passed 35 to 2 in the Senate, and was then referred to the House.

Last night, the House PASSED that bill 88 to 10.

THANK YOU to Senator Simon, and to all the Senators and Representatives who fought for this amendment and who voted YES to this bill.

CALL TO ACTION:

Please send your messages of thanks to Senator Simon!

(And if it includes pictures of your own kids playing sports at their districts, even better.)

He fought hard for us this session. He's an FSU champion for a good reason, and he channeled that champion spirit to hold the line for us and give us this good bill. Please thank him! You can find his contact info here.