The State Board of Education Tuesday approved a new set of Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association guidelines pertaining to the status of home-schooled athletes.

But attorney Carlos Sandoval, who coaches the wrestling team at Progressive Christian Academy in Temple Hills, told The Gazette Wednesday morning that the new guidelines do not resolve anything and that the suit will move forward.

In response to the suit, state officials formulated an 18-point guideline that spells out the conditions non-member schools and athletes must meet in order to compete against MPSSAA member schools.

The plan, dubbed the Standards of Interscholastic Athletic Competition (SIAC), states that home-schooled students must be recognized by their county as being home-schooled and it must be verified that each student is in good academic standing as well as registered in a certified home-schooling program.

Sandoval filed a response July 12 with U.S. District Court Judge J. Frederick Motz claiming that the "policy changes were unacceptable."

Sandoval said Motz could deny all motions and send the matter to trial. He could make a summary judgement and rule in Progressive Christian Academy's favor, or he could set a discovery schedule for specific matters. Sandoval said there is no timetable for Motz to make a decision.

After Tuesday's ruling, Sandoval said he would now ask the court to amend his July 12 complaint, so he could add another count under Section 1983 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code. Section 1983 covers deprivation of civil rights.

Sandoval said that the suit he filed in March on behalf of the majority of parents of home-schooled wrestlers at the school still seeks punitive damages.

But he added that the suit primarily seeks a permanent injunction against any MPSSAA rules governing home-schooled athletes.

"The MPSSAA is not a state association, it's a public school association," Sandoval said. "It has no legal authority to govern the state."

The suit stems from a ruling that occurred in January when Sandoval's team was prohibited from participating at an event at Pallotti High in Laurel that included both public and private school teams. Nearly all of Progressive Christian's 16 wrestlers at the time were home-schooled.

Previous MPSSAA regulations stipulated that public school teams could only compete against other high school teams whose athletes were enrolled at the school and were of high school age.

"The [SIAC] would allow for all 100,000 students in public schools and 100 or so private schools to be on the same playing field," said MPSSAA Executive Director Ned Sparks. "Ninety-nine percent of the private schools we have talked to have been OK with that. For their own reasons, Progressive Christian Academy is not. We want to have the same rules and same criteria and equal footing in regards to how it benefits everybody. That is what we are offering. We feel very confident.

"This does not apply to any particular school or any particular sport. This is a global proposal, and we feel it is a fair one. If the judge does not see it that way and feels differently, then we will proceed forward based on his ruling."

E-mail Adam Rubenstein at arubenstein@gazette.net.