Bipartisan opponents of a proposed homeschooling bill in Illinois say the measure is an assault on parental freedom and would have far-reaching repercussions if passed.

HB2927, the Homeschool Act, would require homeschooling parents to complete a "homeschool declaration form," essentially registering them with their nearest public school district.

Under the proposed Illinois bill, children of parents who don't fill out the form are considered truant. The measure would punish parents who don't file the paperwork within ten days with jail time.

Illinois has long been a "bastion" for homeschool freedom because of a 1950 Illinois Supreme Court ruling in People v. Levisen, in which the court found that homeschooling falls under the private school law in Illinois.

But the new proposal would essentially reverse that decision, with parents no longer able to homeschool their children at home under the private school law.

While 38 states require families to file an annual declaration, not a single state makes it a criminal penalty for families who don't. For example, in Pennsylvania, parents can lose the right to homeschool for twelve months after multiple hearings and warnings.

The bill further requires children who seek to enroll part time in public school or to participate in any public school activities to submit proof of immunization and health examinations or a signed certificate of religious exemption.

“[The bill] makes conforming and other changes in the Freedom of Information Act, the School Code, and the Illinois School Student Records Act, including requiring (rather than allowing) nonpublic schools to register with the State Board of Education,” a synopsis of the bill explains.

Will Estrada, senior counsel with Home School Legal Defense Association, says the bill would essentially give the public education system the right to "harass" families with portfolio reviews that could be required as often as weekly to see how they're educating their children, which would be "exceedingly disruptive to families."

"Our single goal is to defeat this bill," Estrada told National Review. "It would be the first state where homeschool freedom has gone backwards. It would disproportionately harm vulnerable communities, low income families, single parents who are homeschooling their children, minority communities."

Still, Illinois is a "tough state" to win on legislation because freedom and parental rights don't resonate with legislators in the blue state as they might in another state. (Legislators in Virginia recently killed a similar bill, SB 1031, with the Virginia Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee voting in January to "pass by indefinitely.")

The group behind both bills, Coalition for Responsible Home Education, was started by homeschool alumni. Some of them had positive homeschool experiences; others grew up in cults.

Jonah Stewart, interim executive director of CFRHE, told National Review the group views the proposal as a "common-sense intervention to ensure the homeschooled children are educated and safe."

"It is an empirical reality that abuse and neglect occurs in homeschool settings, and that abusive caregivers can deliberately exploit the cover of homeschooling to isolate children — not educate them," he said, pointing to a database the group maintains of publicly documented cases of homeschool abuse, including 220 cases that have resulted in fatalities.

"While research has yet to settle the question in terms of rates of abuse by school status, all children deserve protections from abuse," Stewart said.

He disputed the characterization of the bill as an unprecedented assault on home education, pointing to other states that require home educators to register with their school boards.

Estrada, meanwhile, argues the group is coming at the issue "from a misinformed but well-intentioned thought that homeschooling opens the door to abuse and neglect of children."

Studies show that children who study at home are not at any greater risk and may even be at less risk of abuse and neglect.

Looking further into some of the horrific tragedies that have occurred in Illinois, Estrada says, every single one was already known to the Department of Children and Family Services.

"The staff are overworked, underfunded, there are not enough staff, there’s high burnout, PTSD among case workers, social service investigators, child abuse investigators, and this, HB 2827 would put even more responsibility on the plates of the authorities to monitor loving homes."

There's no extra funding for the agency in the bill, but it would create a significant workload for the agency.

"It’s going to actually harm the vulnerable children that they talk about wanting to protect," he said. "More children who will fall through the cracks."

Stewart, for his part, called this a "misdirection."

"The bill would stipulate that educational neglect concerns be addressed via the same truancy statute that governs public schools, which does not involve DCFS unless there are further concerns of abuse and neglect," he said.

Meanwhile, the homeschool community in Illinois has answered the call against the Homeschool Act. When it came time for a hearing before the Illinois State Board of Education's Education Policy Committee, authorities had to shut down access to the state capitol because of the number of people who showed up; Estrada estimates it was between 5,000 and 8,000 people.

Lawmakers who are opposed to the bill have encouraged constituents to submit witness slips, hoping to prevent further progress on the bill, which passed out of the education policy committee. Constituents sent in more than 50,000 witness slips.

"It’s massive opposition, but again, this is Illinois. We’re hoping that the legislators listen and heed the concerns of their constituents," Estrada said.

State Representative La Shawn Ford, a Democrat, says there's "no doubt" the bill is an assault on parental rights.

"Overall when you look at the reason why parents homeschool, they homeschool because they have a different strategy, philosophy, and desire for their children as it relates to their education and when you look at this bill, it seems to be a government overreach," he told NR.

Luckily, Ford estimates there's a low chance of the bill passing, at this point. Opponents are showing a vigor in opposing the bill, he said, adding that the temperament in the state house tells him it would bea "tough bill to pass at this time."

If the bill passes, it could have repercussions even outside of Illinois.

"If a state ever goes backwards on homeschool freedom, then it would set a goal for those who hate homeschool freedom and parental rights and we could see other states, particularly blue states, like dominoes to fall," Estrada said.

"Conversely, if we’re able to defeat this attempt to curtail homeschool freedom in Illinois with so many headwinds against us, I think it will send a powerful message that homeschooling is bipartisan. Homeschooling is not just conservative Republican Christians. It's white, black Republican, Democrat, third party people. It’s poor, particularly post-Covid. We see massive growth of homeschooling in minority communities, really all across the political and socioeconomic cross sections."

"If we could beat this bill in Illinois, you’ll send a powerful message that home schooling is bipartisan and it’s here to stay," he said.

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Illinois Homeschoolers Brace for Assault on Parental Freedom

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