Reid v. Kenowa Hills Public Schools, No. 239473 (Mich. Ct. App. March 2, 2004)

The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that homeschooled children are not entitled to participate in extracurricular athletics at their local public schools. Parents of homeschooled children had sued defendants Kenowa Hills Public Schools, Ypsilanti Public School District, Cargo Community Schools, and the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) for refusing to allow their children to participate in interscholastic athletics. The parents argued that they decided to homeschool their children "in order to fulfill their God-given responsibility to raise their children to know, love, and serve God and their fellow man," and also to integrate religion into the curriculum while minimizing the influence of other world views that they feel threaten to undermine their religious beliefs. But the parents endeavored to enter their children into extracurricular interscholastic athletic programs in the school districts where they reside. The districts informed the parents that, under MHSAA eligibility rules, their children could not participate unless they are enrolled in the public schools for at least 20 hours a week. The parents sued, alleging violation of their children’s statutory and constitutional rights to free exercise of religion and equal protection, but the trial court granted the school district’s motion for summary judgment. On appeal, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that extracurricular athletic programs are "non-core" classes and that participation in such is a privilege, not a right. The court found no nexus "between the plaintiffs’ right of freedom of religion and the MHSAA’s enrollment requirement." As to the equal protection challenge, the court held that the enrollment requirements fulfill a legitimate governmental purpose of eliminating recruiting or the use of "ringers" in high school athletics.