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Homeschooled student asks Burke County Board to reconsider sports eligibility rule
Summary
At the March 3, 2025 Burke County Board of Education meeting, homeschooled student William Gold urged the board to change a policy that requires students to be at least 50% enrolled in public school to be eligible for school athletics, saying the rule excludes about 12% of county students.
William Gold, a homeschooled student in Burke County, urged the Burke County Board of Education on March 3 to reconsider the district’s sports eligibility rule that requires students to be 50% enrolled in the public school system to compete on school teams.
Gold told the board he and many other homeschooled students in the county lack athletic outlets because of the rule. “I am here tonight to ask you the board to reconsider this policy and allow kids like myself to have the opportunity to compete athletically,” he said.
Gold told the board there are about 13,700 students in Burke County and said roughly 1,650 of those students are homeschooled. Using those figures, he said homeschooled students make up about 12% of the county’s student population and therefore many are ineligible for middle and high school sports under the current rule.
The board had earlier amended the meeting agenda to move public comment to immediately after student recognitions. No board member made public remarks about changing the policy during the meeting and there was no vote on the sports-eligibility rule recorded in the meeting’s action items.
The board’s formal business that evening proceeded to routine approvals, and the meeting moved to closed session later in the agenda. The transcript does not record any immediate staff response or a commitment from the board to place the eligibility policy on a future agenda.
