School choice changes for non-traditional student-athletes

School choice isn’t just for traditional student-athletes anymore.

Manatee County made alterations, based on Florida Statute 1006.15, that details the requirements for students wishing to participate in extracurricular student activities, including sports. Those changes mean non-traditional students such as home-schooled, full-time Florida Virtual School (FLVS) and charter school students can school choice next year.

In the past, those student-athletes could only play athletics at the school they were zoned for, but that will change for the 2017-18 school year, Manatee County athletic director Jason Montgomery said in an email release.

School choice remains an application process through the office of student assignment (OSA), and non-traditional student-athletes can only apply to schools that have available seats. For charter school student-athletes, they can only apply if the sport they play isn’t offered at the charter school. The selection process for school choice is the same as traditional students. The application period for high schools starts Monday and ends Jan. 20.

This story was originally published January 6, 2017 at 10:07 PM with the headline "School choice changes for non-traditional student-athletes."