Homeschools and private schools regulating Illinois bills attract big opposition

Lawmakers, including Christian schools, parents and some Democrats, have issued warnings about Illinois House bills that strongly regulate homeschooling and private schools.

House Bill 2827, known as the Homeschool Bill, requires homeschool parents to provide personal information about their children and what they are being taught to local and state education authorities. It would threaten them in prison time if they receive a home visit from a bureaucrat and fail to submit the required form on time. They will also establish similar regulations for private schools.

Previously, Prairie State has taken a handoff approach to both homeschool and private schools. But seizing a single case of homeschooled child abuse, Democratic state representative Terra Costa Howard introduced a homeschool bill to achieve what Democrats and their allies in teacher unions have long wanted.

It was maintained by Pastor Michael Maul, president of the Central Illinois District of Lutheran Church Misouli Conference.

The underlying premise of this bill is that rather than raising and educating children that it is the responsibility of the God-given parent, it is a national ward that is given to parents and various private schools through national leave.

Bad form

According to the Illinois State Policy Institute (IPI), a Chicago-based flea market think tank, the bill is “disregarded for simply filling out the form, but (it) includes more.”

The bill requires that all homeschool families submit a “homeschool declaration form” annually to their local school district. I wrote the form and IPI,

At the very least, we require that you report your child's name, date of birth, grade level, home address, and home school administrator's name, date of birth, contact information, home address, and more.

However, “There is no limit to the information required for the form.” In fact, one of the reports includes a breakdown of homeschooled children by “gender identity,” as they must be compiled by the National Board of Education based on the form, so requests for that information will certainly be added to the form.

Homeschool parents could be jailed and fined if they fail to submit their forms on time.

“It's just a form, they say. It creates a new pathway to criminalization,” Black pastor and former Democratic Congressional candidate Chris Butler said at a rally on Thursday against the bill.

Butler said to Center Square:

Although cast as dangerous by supporters and sponsors of this bill, the homeschooling movement is the most hopeful thing happening in education, especially in Illinois, and there is no reason to get in the way.

Similarly, La Sean Ford, representative of the Black Democratic state, told a rally, “This bill is a pipeline for parents' criminal justice systems, and I can't stand it. How can I criminalize parents because I want to love my children?”

My brother's bureaucratic organization

The risks of the bill far exceed the penalties for reporting requirements.

For example, homeschool families require them to maintain a “educational portfolio” that documents what their children are learning. Similar to the declaration form, the type of bureaucracy can be forced to be supplied to parents – and they could request that they look at the portfolio “anytime for some reason”, IPI argued.

The bill also places similar registration and reporting requirements on private schools, including religious schools.

The Illinois Catholic Conference against the law argued:

Forcing Catholic schools to provide personally identifiable data for students and families is not only violating the fundamental trust between schools and families, but also successfully implements national policies that create invasive relationships between states and private institutions.

Additionally, it warns IPI and creates a reporting requirement “Registration of Religion of Residents”. The homeschool family education portfolio likely reveals their religious beliefs, and religious school reports tell bureaucrats which children are educating which faiths.

Homeschool Bill's reporting requirements are not its only vague provisions. Certainly, the entire bill is full of vague language that empowers bureaucrats to investigate alleged violations of their dict order.

Additionally, the bill's oversight requirements involving everyone from local school districts to local offices and state boards of education could cost taxpayers a significant penny (or nitty nickel, unproductive penny).

Hostile Witness

According to IPI, “The Bill Generated Historic Opposition.” The bill-only version alone has earned over 51,000 “eyewitnesses slip slips” since online applications began at the 2011-2012 legislative meeting.

It is worth noting that, as with IP, the reporting requirements for homeschool bills are far more severe than what the state places impose on public schools, and that records are disastrous. The Chicago Tribune was observed in a poignant editorial:

Are politicians so much attention to homeschooling and private school accountability, when only 30% of fourth-graders in the public school system can read at the grade level, across the state?

What is the sales pitch? “Come to public schools. Is there a 30% chance you might learn to read?” I hope our lawmakers spent more time pursuing ideas to improve public schools, rather than hindering private schools.