Official Interpretations of the State Executive Committee
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(17-09-19) Section 403 (f)(1)
Eligibility – Athletics. - Previous State Executive Committee Interpretations for Section 403 (f) are no longer applicable since the rule is addressed in Section 403 (7).
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(17-09-11) Section 1204 (r)(2)(E)
Revocation or Suspension of Registration, Appeal to the UIL. - Appeals as described in Section 1204 (r)(2)(E) are limited to resolving factual disputes from a background check, and all decisions regarding membership in a sports offficial’s chapter or association, are to be determined by the chapter or association.
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(17-01-17) Section 400 (b) and 403:
Student Transfers -
The State Executive Committee was asked for clarification to State Executive Committee Interpretation 00-09-13 concerning Section 400(b) and Section 403(f).
The SEC determined that students are ineligible to participate at their home campus if the magnet campus they attend is engaged in organized athletic competition involving UIL activities against teams of students organized by other schools. Additionally, the SEC determined that students who previously particpated in organized competition at both their magnet program and home school, prior to the January 17, 2017 meeting, in athletics at a ‘home’ school while attending a magnet school are grandfathered in, without penalty. -
(16-03-22) Section 1102 (f):
Region Executive Committee - Previous State Executive Committee Interpretations for Section 1102 (f) are no longer applicable since the rule has been modified.
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(16-01-11) Section 465(b)(3)(A) & Section 468(a)(3)(A):
Foreign Exch. Students & J-1 Visa - In cases where a foreign exchange student is unable to obtain a J-1 visa because such a visa is not legally available or is not required of the student in order for them to travel to the United States to participate in an education program a waiver could be granted as long as the foreign exchange student is able to provide sufficient evidence to show they do not qualify for a J-1 visa; provide a copy of the passport or other travel documents (visa) the student intends to rely on when traveling to and entering the United States and meets all the other applicable waiver criteria.
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(15-08-19) Sections 400, 406 and 407:
Students Affiliated with Two Schools -
In circumstances where under local district policy a student is permitted to be affiliated, either by enrollment or attendance, with two or more schools within the same school district, for the purposes of participation in UIL contests, one of the school’s shall be designated as the student’s ‘school of participation’. A student’s “home school” or any school of choice (as long as choice was made at the first opportunity) that offers UIL activities may be designated as that student’s ‘school of participation’. (A student’s “home school” is a school that the student is required to attend under local district policy, typically based on parents’ resident.)
In the circumstances described above, a student may represent a “school of participation” in UIL contests under the following conditions:
(a) The hours that the student is enrolled in classes offered by the district at two or more schools are in total sufficient for the student to be considered a full time student. Full time is defined as enrolled in at least four hours per day of instruction for either state or local credit. See Section 403 of the UIL Constitution and Contest Rules.
(b) Student must comply with the regular attendance rule at “school of participation”. See Section 404, UIL Constitution and Contest Rules.
(c) Student’s age must be verified and the student must comply with the 4-year rule and all other UIL eligibility requirements. See Subchapter M, Eligibility, UIL Constitution and Contest Rules.
(d) Student may only represent one school as “school of participation”. The school must approve of the student’s participation and the student is under the jurisdiction of the school of participation principal for UIL purposes.
(e) Any changes in the student’s “school of participation” are to be processed and reviewed under the UIL Constitution and Contest Rules as would any other student who changes schools.
(f) Student’s grades are reported by all schools attended by the student to the student’s “school of participation” during that schools scheduled grading periods to ensure compliance with no pass/no play law. -
(10-05-26) Section 441:
Athletic Amateur Rule - Previous State Executive Committee Interpretations for Section 441 are no longer applicable since the rule has been modified.
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(10-03-12) Section 400(b) 403 and 440:
Magnet Schools -
For the purposes of this interpretation, the divisions of UIL activities are: Academics (includes One-Act-Play), Music and Athletics.
Local school district policies may permit students who are attending a magnet school located on a campus (within their ISD) that does not offer any activities within a particular division of UIL activities (Academics (including One Act Play), Music or Athletics) to participate at their home attendance zone campus, in that division, under the jurisdiction of that principal for UIL purposes with the following provisions:
(a) The home attendance zone campus approves of the student’s participation.
(b) Student is enrolled in enough classes to be considered a full time student at the magnet school. Full time is defined as enrolled in at least four hours per day of instruction for either state or local high school credit.
(c) Student’s grades are reported from the magnet school officials to the home attendance zone campus at scheduled grading periods to insure compliance with no-pass, no-play.
(d) Verification that the student complies with the age rule, 4-year rule (for high school students) and other pertinent information requested by the home attendance zone campus principal would also have to be provided.
(e) High school students who participate in varsity athletics must comply with University Interscholastic League rules, sections 440 and 442 in the home attendance zone campus.
(f) A student in this situation is prohibited from representing both the magnet school and the home attendance zone campus in the same division of UIL activities.
(g) If the magnet school offers a division of UIL activities, the student would have to represent the magnet school in that division of UIL activities.
(h) If the magnet school does not offer a division of UIL activities, the student could petition to represent their home attendance zone campus in that division of UIL activities.
(i) It would be allowable to have a student represent their magnet school (school of attendance) in one division of UIL activities and their home attendance zone campus (school of parents residence) in a division of UIL activities not offered at the magnet school.
(j) If the student subsequently changes schools within that ISD (to a school other than the home attendance zone campus), the student would be ineligible for varsity athletics for one calendar year unless the parents made a corresponding move to the new school attendance zone. -
(09-03-04) Section 1202(b):
Employment of Coaches - Compensation (not included as part of the coach’s salary at the beginning of the school year) for progress past the district level of competition is considered pay for success in the UIL competitive activity and a violation of Section 1202. Advancement beyond the first level of competition is one of the goals of any UIL activity and is a desired expectation of the salary and stipend set by the board of trustees prior to the school year.
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(08-09-03) Section 1478(b)(5):
Eligibility Requirements for 7th & 8th Grade Participants -
Students attending a public K-8 ISD that does not field a team and does not have a designated receiving school district as indicated in Section 1478 (b) (5), may participate on the seventh and eighth grade baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball and/or volleyball teams at the junior high school with geographical boundaries contiguous to his/her K-8 ISD; or the junior high school located nearest his/her residence.
The student would be considered a full time student for eligibility purposes at the school he/she selects at his/her first opportunity. Should the student subsequently decide to represent another school under these guidelines without enrolling in the new school, he/she would be ineligible to participate at that new school. -
(08-09-10) Sections 5(u), 13(b) and 400(b):
Magnet Schools -
When separate magnet schools are located together, the ISD shall designate one of the following configurations for UIL varsity participation.
(a) All components create one participant high school, and one membership fee is due for that school. Students enrolled in any of the magnet schools located at the center may represent that participant high school in UIL activities; or
(b) Each magnet school within the center is considered a separate participant high school and must pay a separate UIL membership fee. Students enrolled in a magnet school may represent only that magnet school in UIL activities. -
(07-04-18) Sections 400(g) and 405(a):
Enrollment in 9th Grade - Based on Section 5 (l), a student is considered to be enrolled in the ninth grade the day of that student’s registration and attendance in a full class period at the ninth grade level.
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(05-09-01 a) Section 409(a):
Promotion - When parents or guardians are successful in convincing school officials to allow their child to repeat the seventh or eighth grade, academic promotion is effectively withdrawn and the student is ineligible for the first six weeks because he is repeating the grade. If the student passes all courses for the first six weeks, academic eligibility may be regained seven calendar days later.
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(05-09-01 b) Section 1340(b)(2):
Boys’, Girls’ Restriction - This rule clearly addresses students and does not prohibit a coach from providing instruction to a student of the opposite gender.
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(05-08-03) Sections 1033 and 1202:
Employment of Coaches -
Full time employees must comply with the following standards in order to serve as a high school (grades 9-12) athletic coach or a high school one-act play director.
TRS Minimum Employment Eligibility Standards cited below are used to define full-time (but the employee does not have to actually qualify for TRS):
(a) A minimum of one-half of the time required of the standard workload (minimum of 15 hours per week for non-certified and 20 hours per week for certified employees); and
(b) Earning a salary comparable to one-half the salary earned by a full-time employee in a similar position; and
(c) For UIL: is under contract to the school board for the whole scholastic or calendar year for coaching or directing stipend (or contract could be contingent on district’s ability to hire a full time qualified instructor.)
Exception: School boards may hire individuals to coach who are not teachers and whose regular duties do not qualify them for a contract with the school district, provided: their employment conditions satisfy (a) and (b) cited above; their rate of pay for the school year is determined by the board before they begin coaching; they are informed by the person approving them for hire that they are not eligible to receive a bonus or any part of their coaching salary from any source (including booster clubs) other than the school district; they complete and sign a UIL Professional Acknowledgement Form. UIL rules do not govern cheer or drill sponsors - those decisions are left with the local school district. -
(01-09-18 a) Sections 353 and 440:
Optional Attendance Zone - A school board may create an optional attendance zone to facilitate the opening of a new high school by adopting the following language: Students who participate in extracurricular activities who will not have the opportunity to compete for varsity district honors at the new high school have the option to attend the high school they would have attended if the new school had not been created or to attend the new school. The student would be eligible at the school they first select. If the student subsequently changes to another school within that district they are not eligible for varsity athletic competition until they have been enrolled in and regularly attended that school for at least the previous year.
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(01-09-18 b) Section 409(a):
Promotion - Promotion means that a student has been academically promoted from the previous grade level by officials in an accredited public or private school. Students who enroll in a UIL participant school from home school or an unaccredited private school become academically eligible seven calendar days after the first grading evaluation period in which they have passed all courses.
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(00-09-13) Sections 400(b) and 440(b):
Student Transfers -
When a student transfers from their home attendance zone campus district to a public high school in another school district to enroll in a magnet program, the student may not be eligible for varsity athletics at a high school other than the home attendance zone campus. The policy that addresses returning to the home attendance zone campus to participate follows:
When a student transfers out of the district to a public high school that does not participate in athletics:
(a) The student may petition administration of his home attendance zone campus (school zone where his parents reside) to represent the home attendance zone campus in athletics.
(b) Student’s grades must be reported from magnet high school officials to the home attendance zone campus to ensure compliance with no-pass, no-play.
(c) Verification that the student complies with the full-time student status, age rule, four-year rule and other UIL eligibility rules and all other pertinent information requested by home attendance zone campus principal would also have to be provided by magnet school principal.
(d) Student is under the jurisdiction of the home attendance zone campus principal for all UIL purposes. It is important to note that the student would also have to represent home attendance zone campus high school in UIL fine arts and academic competition. A student in this situation is prohibited from representing more than one high school.
Students in this situation would be able to represent the school they attend in any sub-varsity athletic activities. -
(00-08-03) Section 403(a):
Local Eligibility Rules - School districts with board policies that lock all four years of eligibility for ninth grade students from a 7-8-9 campus into the high school they first represent causes those students to be eligible only at that high school. In the event the school board changes it policy and the student wishes to return to the high school where the parents reside, loss of varsity athletic eligibility for at least one calendar year would occur. Local school district policies could cause a student under these circumstances to be ineligible for more than one calendar year.
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(99-04-20) Section 400(b):
Charter Schools -
(a) Students whose parents live within the boundaries of an independent school district where a charter high school is located and opt to attend the charter high school at their first opportunity to select a high school, are eligible according to this section.
(b) Students whose parents live within the independent school district where the charter school is located, who do not select the charter high school at their first opportunity, are ineligible for varsity athletic competition unless they have been enrolled in and regularly attending the charter high school for at least the previous calendar year.
(c) Students whose parents reside outside the boundaries of the independent school district where the charter school is located are ineligible for varsity athletic competition unless they have been enrolled in and regularly attending the charter school for at least the previous calendar year. -
(95-11-09) Section 400(c):
Attendance - Section 400 (c) would allow a student to be considered in regular attendance at the participant high school even though the hospitalized student has been transferred to another school’s home bound program provided: the student’s class work assignments are determined by the home attendance zone campus; the hospitalized student never attends a class held in a regular classroom of the home bound ISD; the student’s physician certifies that he/she may return to the home attendance zone campus and is able to participate; the student’s grades are transferred back to the home attendance zone campus with him/her.
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(88-11-03) Section 442:
Boarding Facilities - Section 442 (b) applies if at least one of a student’s parents is alive. Students who are placed by their parent(s) or guardian(s) in a home licensed by the state as a child care boarding facility are eligible for athletic competition after one calendar year, even though they are transferred from one boarding facility campus to another boarding facility campus, provided the home licensed by the state was appointed as their guardian by appropriate authority more than one year ago.