(C) North Dakota Monitor
This story was originally published by North Dakota Monitor and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Student athlete eligibility changes likely even as bill fails on North Dakota House floor • North Dakota Monitor [1]
['Michael Achterling', 'Mary Steurer', 'More From Author', '- February', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img']
Date: 2025-02-19
A bill that sought to loosen North Dakota high school athletic eligibility requirements failed Wednesday after the activities association pledged to address concerns raised by families.
House Bill 1491, sponsored by Rep. Nico Rios, R-Williston, would have eliminated the one-year prohibition for students competing in varsity sports after moving into a new school district.
During the public hearing for the bill, high school swimmer Kambree Draper of Bismarck said she was not allowed to compete at the varsity level because her father was still living in Williston after she and her mother moved to Bismarck. Her hardship request was denied by the association.
Rep. Pat Heinert, R-Bismarck, said he believes the bill got the attention of the North Dakota High School Activities Association, the group that governs high school sports and fine arts in the state, and he expects changes to the organization’s policies surrounding high school transfer eligibility in coming months.
He added the association met last Friday and will consider additional hardship appeals processes to give parents and students more avenues for possible eligibility.
“We have their attention,” Heinert said during the House floor debate. “We should not see them here next session. Because if we do, they are not going to like the outcome.”
He added, if issues persist at the association, the Legislature may put four lawmakers on the board next session to “clean it up.”
Rep. Austen Schauer, R-West Fargo, said he supported the bill and wants to let the kids play. He said the one-year prohibition on playing sports isn’t punitive because of something the student athlete did, but only because they moved.
“Sports improve physical and mental health,” Schauer said. “It builds leadership skills, communication, collaboration and teamwork. It keeps kids busy. It gives them life and in many cases, it gives them purpose.”
Rep. Scott Louser, R-Minot, called the measure an “amnesty” and “open borders” bill for high schools that would allow unlimited transfers and “super teams” for high school students with no regard for their academic journey.
He added the state high school activities association only denied two of 12 hardship requests for student athletes transferring schools this academic year.
During the hearing, the association’s executive director was unable to talk about the student hardship cases due to privacy concerns.
“We can’t have legislative committees … with no authority or oversight over a private organization be left to be the after-the-fact jury on a couple of hardship cases where they only got to hear one side,” Louser said.
The bill failed on a 71-22 House floor vote.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://northdakotamonitor.com/2025/02/19/student-athlete-eligibility-changes-likely-even-as-bill-fails-on-north-dakota-house-floor/
Published and (C) by North Dakota Monitor
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/ndmonitor/
