What can players at Texas schools playing football now do in high school according to new laws?
High school students may be able to load up on athletics, band and physical education classes to meet graduation requirements under a new state law that gives students more freedom to pick electives. As a result, according to Texas Education Agency officials, students could take more than a fourth of their classes in PE or PE substitutes – such as football, band and cheerleading – to meet the requirements. The author of the legislation said Monday that in writing the law, he never considered the possibility of a student taking so much PE. But Debbie Ratcliffe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, said, “It now appears there is no restriction to prevent a student from taking seven credits in PE classes.” Students in the “Recommended High School Program,” the plan followed by most Texas high schoolers, could take seven credits in PE or PE substitutes as part of the 26 credits required for graduation. That includes one regular PE credit – equal to two semesters – and six elective
Texas High-School Athletes Gain Ground in Class By TOM BENNING DALLAS — A new Texas law that could double the amount of academic credit high-school athletes receive for playing sports is stoking a long-standing debate in the Lone Star State about whether athletics should count the same as schoolwork. Texas is unusual in that high-school sports aren’t completely extracurricular. The state has long allowed students who are members of sports teams to take one athletics class during a normal school day, a period that can be filled with anything from watching game films and weight lifting to sitting in study hall. [Footballers photo] THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS Celina High School football players go through conditioning drills earlier this month. A new Texas law lets members of high-school sports teams get more academic credit for such things as weightlifting. The state formerly permitted high schoolers to apply only two credits — or two years’ worth — of athletics classes toward the 26 cred
