Staff recommends district opt out of allowing private- and home-schooled students in Birdville extracurriculars

District staff recommended that Birdville ISD opt out of allowing non‑enrolled students — including private‑school and homeschooled children — to participate in district extracurricular activities, and trustees discussed the proposal at length.

The recommendation applies to school‑sponsored curricular and extracurricular activities (including athletics, band, choir and drama), staff said, and is grounded in concerns about campus safety, oversight, scheduling, accountability for academic eligibility, funding and fairness to enrolled students.

Why it matters: Allowing non‑enrolled students to participate raises questions about supervision and safety on campus, how to account for attendance and academic eligibility, and the potential fiscal and participation impacts on enrolled students and district programs.

Board and staff discussion

Mr. Baskerville (board member) introduced the item and summarized prior presentations from Barry Norton. Barry Norton (staff) and other staff raised several concerns: non‑enrolled participants would not be on campus for the full day, complicating campus security and identification; they would not be enrolled in co‑curricular classes that provide instruction and grades tied to extracurricular eligibility; and they would place additional resource burdens on programs that receive only limited activity funding. Norton also said allowing non‑enrolled participation could lead to students unenrolling primarily to compete in fine arts, creating ADA and funding impacts.

"Number one, starting with safety — no oversight of enrolled students when they're on campus because the students would be coming just for that event and that coming and going on as far as campus security," Norton told the board.

Board members voiced support for a districtwide, consistent approach. Trustees also discussed whether existing policy language (FM) needs editing; staff said the policy will be written to reflect the board’s Thursday vote.

Authority and policy citations

Staff cited FM local policy language that currently addresses eligibility and noted that the law allows districts to choose how to apply eligibility rules; staff recommended opting out of allowing non‑enrolled students to participate in district extracurriculars.

Next steps

Staff will bring a final policy draft for board action at the upcoming regular meeting. If the board approves the recommended opt‑out, staff said they will redline the policy to remove any language implying non‑enrolled student eligibility and will notify campuses and families.

Ending

Trustees did not take a vote at the July discussion; staff will present formal policy language for the board to vote on at the scheduled meeting.