1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to education; modifying certain high school league provisions; amending 
1.3 	Minnesota Statutes 2014, sections 128C.02, subdivision 5; 128C.07, subdivision 
1.4 	8.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 128C.02, subdivision 5, is amended to read:
1.7 		Subd. 5.Rules for open enrollees. (a) The league shall adopt league rules and 
1.8 	regulations governing the athletic participation of pupils attending school in a nonresident 
1.9 	district under section 124D.03.
1.10 	(b) Notwithstanding other law or league rule or regulation to the contrary, when a 
1.11 	student enrolls in or is readmitted to a recovery-focused high school after successfully 
1.12 	completing a licensed program for treatment of alcohol or substance abuse, mental illness, 
1.13 	or emotional disturbance, the student is immediately eligible to participate on the same basis 
1.14 	as other district students in the league-sponsored activities of the student's resident school 
1.15 	district. Nothing in this paragraph prohibits the league or school district from enforcing a 
1.16 	league or district penalty resulting from the student violating a league or district rule.
1.17 	(c) The league shall adopt league rules making a student with an individualized 
1.18 	education program who transfers from one public school to another public school as a 
1.19 	reasonable accommodation to reduce barriers to educational access immediately eligible 
1.20 	to participate in league-sponsored varsity competition on the same basis as other students 
1.21 	in the school to which the student transfers. The league also must establish guidelines, 
1.22 	consistent with this paragraph, for reviewing the 504 plan of a student who transfers 
1.23 	between public schools to determine whether the student is immediately eligible to 
2.1 	participate in league-sponsored varsity competition on the same basis as other students in 
2.2 	the school to which the student transfers.
2.3 	(d) The league shall adopt rules to reduce the barriers for public charter school 
2.4 	students to participate in league-sponsored competitions in their resident district, in 
2.5 	the event that the charter school the student attends does not offer a league-sponsored 
2.6 	competition, or the charter school is not a party to a cooperative agreement with another 
2.7 	league member school district or school in the league-sponsored competition.

2.8 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 128C.07, subdivision 8, is amended to read:
2.9 		Subd. 8.Otherwise, conferences are voluntary. Except to the extent the league 
2.10 	arranges conference membership under this section, an interscholastic conference of 
2.11 	schools participating in activities delegated to the league may be formed and changed 
2.12 	freely. A conference may not prohibit member schools of the conference from entering 
2.13 	into cooperative agreements with charter schools.