High school student-athletes would receive course credits for each sport that they play if two bills become law.

Senate Bill 3296 was introduced on Jan. 26 and passed out of committee with an 11-0 vote. Its companion, House Bill 2427, passed a second reading, with Rep. Adrian Tam (D, Waikiki-Ala Moana) voting yes with reservations and Rep. Jeanne Kapela (D, Capt. Cook-Kailua-Kona) voting against it.

The bills deem all interscholastic sports as co-curricular rather than extracurricular, making all varsity sports a class like all others such as math and science. It requires the Department of Education to study and estimate the cost of implementing the change.

Although the bill received overwhelming support in testimony, it has one very big detractor in Chris Chun of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association. While he agrees in the value athletics provides to students, he sees this change as dangerous for several reasons.

Such a change would allow students to sign up and receive school credit for their efforts and all coaches would have to be certified teachers.

Chun points out that courts have been clear that athletics is a privilege rather than a right and that coaches need the ability to hold tryouts and limit their rosters to a manageable number rather than being forced to put every athlete who signs up on the team and dole out playing time equally. He also cautions that the law would have serious Title IX implications.

No other state counts athletics as part of a school’s curriculum, according to testimony.

“I wouldn’t know why the Senate is trying to put this forward because I wouldn’t understand the ramifications,” Chun testified. “If that means if that student makes the team, that student has to have equal playing time, whether that is safe or not. I am kind of confused as to what is the need for this because it seems like high school athletics in Hawaii and everywhere else has positively impacted everyone currently as an extracurricular activity.”

Former Kaimuki football coach David Tautofi is a strong supporter of the bill, which was introduced by Sen. Michelle Kidani (D, Mililani-Waikele). Tautofi didn’t like how athletes were cast aside as an afterthought during the pandemic when he believes that keeping them on the field should have been a priority.

“This focus is really on education,” Tautofi said. “This is education in sports, not of sports. When it comes to competition, that naturally comes, but that’s not the most important part. The most important part of this is an opportunity to help them mature our kids and give them a chance to be the good citizens they are.”

Teri Ushijima of the Department of Education said that the term “co-curricular” is already used in the state to refer to extracurricular activity. Each bill will have one more reading, as early as Thursday.