Opponents say bill is a slippery slope to more regulation
By BETH HUNDSDORFER AND MOLLY PARKER
Capitol News Illinois
news@capitolnewsillinois.com
Hundreds rallied Thursday at the Capitol in Springfield to voice their opposition to a bill that would require oversight of families who homeschool their children, a response to concerns that the state offers no restrictions on homeschooling families.
The bill, called the Homeschool Act, would require families to notify their local school districts if they decide to homeschool their children. Parents could also be required to provide authorities with teaching materials and completed work to document instruction is taking place if there is a concern that homeschooled children are not receiving an education.
Homeschoolers have thwarted previous legislative attempts to regulate them, using grassroots events such as the annual Illinois Christian Home Educators’ Cherry Pie Day. This year, in addition to delivering cherry pies to legislators' offices, homeschool proponents voiced their opposition to the bill, rallying on the Capitol lawn.
Tia Noriega, of Chicago, attended the rally to oppose the bill. She’s homeschooling her children instead of sending them to Chicago Public Schools.
“I'm from the city. We're inner city. We're right in the middle of, like, some crazy neighborhoods in Chicago,” Noriega said. “It’s hard enough to raise your family in a big city, but as homeschoolers, there is a community. We have support because my children are still really young. I hope to keep that community strong, to be able to raise them with like-minded people. So, I hope this bill doesn't get passed.”
The bill would not prevent homeschooling. Rep. Terra Costa Howard, a Democrat from Glen Ellyn who sponsored the bill, said it would extend minimal requirements to ensure children are educated and safe. Parents would only be compelled to show evidence of schooling if educational authorities received concerns of truancy.
Several Republicans in the Illinois House, however, said it would put unnecessary and burdensome restrictions on homeschooling families.
“Illinois has plenty of challenges. We all know that. It's not a secret. We watch the news, but homeschooling is, frankly, not one of those challenges. It's not a problem, it's a solution. It's an answer to so many public-school challenges that Illinois families face,” Rep. Travis Weaver said during a news conference Thursday. “Over-regulating homeschool families is bad, but the future of this bill is even worse because the more we over-regulate homeschooling, the more homeschooling will slip and look more and more like our struggling public schools.”
Currently, homeschool parents are not required to register with their local school districts or any state agency. They are not required to use any prescribed curriculum, test for progress and proficiency or track attendance. Homeschooling parents need not have a high school diploma to instruct their kids at home. Illinois’ rules for homeschoolers are among the least restrictive in the nation, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.
In a news investigation last year, Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica found that parents can claim homeschooling to avoid any consequences for truancy. Truancy officers told reporters the lack of regulation made it more difficult to get truant kids back into school and hold parents accountable.
While the number of homeschooled children is growing, determining the number of children who are educated at home is difficult, as registration is not required. The bill would also require data collection from each Regional Office of Education across Illinois for the first time on the number, grade and age of homeschooled children in their regions.
The number of school-aged children enrolled in public schools has dropped by 127,000 since 2020, outpacing declines in population, according to a study by Advance Illinois, an educational policy and advocacy organization.
Lily Cary at Medill Illinois News Bureau contributed to this report.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
