The Texas Senate passed the Tim Tebow Bill to allow home-schooled student-athletes to play for their local public schools in the Lone Star State, according to multiple reports.
The bill, which passed the Senate by a decisive 21-7 vote, now rests with the Texas House before it's signed into law, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Texas is hardly the only state acting to make it easier for students of Tebow's ilk to take part in mainstream high school competition. Indiana passed a similar law May 1, and half the nation's states have already adopted similar bills named for Tebow, the Heisman Trophy winner who led Nease (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) High to a state title and captured Florida's Mr. Football honor as a high school senior while being homeschooled in 2005.
Tebow and six-time NFL Pro Bowler Jason Taylor, who played for Woodland Hills (Pittsburgh, Pa.) High while being homeschooled in the early 1990s, have championed the rights of homeschooled student-athletes to varying degrees of success across the country.
Recently, the Alabama Senate rejected the Tim Tebow Act, the Arkansas House passed the bill and both Tennessee and North Carolina are currently in the legislative process.
A faction of public educators in Texas opposed the bill, but the Texas Home School Coalition supported it despite some members of the homeschool community who believe the law might lead to further government oversight, according to The Morning News.
Texas features as many as 320,000 homeschooled students and parents, the THSC said.
Take UConn freshman Moriah Jefferson for example. Before helping the Huskies to their eighth NCAA women's basketball title this past season, she was a homeschooled high school hoopster and McDonald's All-American from Glenn Heights, Texas.
Jefferson led Texas Home Educations Sports Association (THESA) to five National Christian Homeschool Basketball Championships titles, but never had the option of competing in University Interscholastic League sanctioned events for public high schools.
Tebow's high school days may seem like a distant memory as he looks for more work somewhere in the NFL, but he's still making an impact on prep sports.
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