How does open enrollment law impact Iowa high school sports?
There is no question open enrollment laws provides students with more school choice in Iowa. But how much do those policies impact high school sports?
- Eighth-grade students in Iowa will be eligible to compete in high school varsity sports starting in the 2026-27 season.
- Individual school districts will decide whether to allow eighth graders to participate in their high school sports programs.
- The rule change is expected to primarily benefit smaller, rural schools needing more athletes to field teams.
A noteworthy shift is coming to Iowa high school sports.
Following a lengthy process that ended with the approval of emergency rules by the Iowa State Board of Education on June 18, eighth-grade students will be allowed to compete in varsity sports. Additionally, changes have been made to the period of ineligibility for transfer student-athletes who utilize open enrollment. The change goes into effect on Aug. 1, 2026, for the upcoming 2026-27 sports season.
This raises plenty of questions about what comes next and why these changes were made. Here’s a quick rundown on what caused this move and what is to come moving forward.
When can eighth graders start playing high school sports?
Eighth-grade students can participate in high school sports as soon as the 2026-27 varsity sports season.
Iowa lawmakers drafted and passed House Bill 2591 in April, which allowed eighth graders to play in high school sports and adjusted open enrollment transfer rules. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law in June. That required the Iowa State Board of Education to pass emergency rules to implement these changes by Aug. 1, 2026.
On Thursday, June 18, the board passed those emergency rules, making it a reality.
On Aug. 11, a public comment meeting will take place to discuss the changes. At either the Sept. or Oct. Iowa State Board of Education meeting, the board will vote on the final rules to replace the existing emergency rules, meaning slight language changes or minor pivots on specific items may be up for discussion. Still, the larger principle of House Bill 2591 will be final as soon as Aug. 1.
Put simply, eighth-grade students will be able to begin playing in varsity football, volleyball and other fall sports in just a couple of months, so long as their school and physician allow it.
Can all eighth graders play high school sports?
Every summer, for several decades, eighth-grade students rising into their freshman year of high school could participate in baseball and softball in Iowa. House Bill 2591 expands upon that as soon as the fall sports season.
While eighth graders will be eligible to participate in varsity high school sports, it will still be up to individual schools whether they allow it. Local policies will need to be adopted by the board of directors of a school district, the authorities in charge of a nonpublic school, or the governing board of a charter school.
Additionally, like all high schoolers, eighth-grade students will need to pass a physical to be eligible to play. In an effort to make sure eighth-grade students are physically capable of competing at a high school level, House Bill 2591 amended the language of the rule to add, ‘considering the nature of the athletic competition and the student’s health and development.’
In the Iowa State Board of Education meeting on June 18, Iowa Department of Education’s attorney Thomas Mayes was responsible for outlining the rule changes and explained why this language was added.
“The concern expressed while these rules were being developed was somebody who’s 13 or 14 competing against somebody who’s 18 and 19,” Mayes said. “Not all 13-year-olds are the same, not all 19-year-olds are the same, not all sports are the same, so providing a little bit more direction to the medical professionals who are doing these annual visits.”
While these rules and legislation were drafted, student safety was top of mind. For example, a heavy contact sport like football or soccer would necessitate a student being advanced physically enough to play safely, whereas a non-contact sport like swimming or bowling would likely require less of a barrier to entry. This leaves the decision-making in the hands of medical professionals to decide which eighth-grade students would be deemed fit to play at a varsity level.
Why are eighth graders now able to play high school sports?
Local schools will have the choice on whether to allow eighth graders into varsity sports. This is not a blanket move to allow all eighth-grade students to play varsity sports, but left to the schools’ discretion. One major reason a school may allow for this is participation, particularly in rural schools.
A prime example of the stark difference in participation between large schools and smaller schools is what is already occurring in baseball and softball, where eighth-grade students are already playing. In Class 4A baseball, Iowa’s largest class, just 16 eighth-grade players have entered a game this season, according to gobound.com. In Class 1A, Iowa’s smallest class, over 200 eighth-grade athletes have played in a game in 2026.
Under these new rules, a smaller, rural school may choose to allow eighth graders to participate in high school sports to have additional athletes to fill a roster and be able to give more opportunities to their athletes. Whereas a larger, metropolitan school may not need additional athletes and prefer they continue developing athletically within their age group.
Time will tell whether the trend continues into sports like football, volleyball, or track and field, but the current landscape of metro schools vs. rural schools using eighth graders in baseball and softball is a sign of what could come in the future.
What’s different about the transfer rules?
Aside from the major piece of legislation in House Bill 2591, there is a singular alteration to open enrollment transfer rules. That move is to a 140-calendar-day ineligible period vs. the previous 90-school-day period. This change to calendar days from school days is to account for the different lengths and timing of sport seasons across Iowa.
For example, under the old rule, if an athlete transferred via open enrollment to another school in the summer, they wouldn’t accumulate any countable school days until the next school year began. Whereas if an athlete decided to open enroll after the first semester of a school year, they would immediately have countable school days once the second semester began. Under the new 140-calendar-day period, all open-enrollment transfers sit out an equal amount of time, regardless of when they transfer.
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.
