A homeschooled student attended the hearing in a Virginia House committee last month. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Home-schooled students in Virginia won’t be able to follow Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow’s example for another year, as the Senate voted today to kill legislation that would have allowed them to join public school sports teams.

Despite pleas from the parents and supporters of the estimated 32,000 home-schooled children in the commonwealth, the Virginia Senate Education and Health Committee voted to push consideration of the measure off until the 2013 legislative session. The bill had been approved by the House and received the support of Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Opponents of the measure claimed it would provide home-schooled students with an unfair advantage, seeing as public school students have to stick to a specific academic schedule and can be kicked off of a team if they misbehave they have disciplinary problems in the classroom.

According to the Post, 16 states allow home-schooled students to play on public school teams.