Erika Ahern / CatholicVote
Hartford, Conn. // Connecticut families showed up in droves at the state Capitol May 5 to urge lawmakers to defend parental rights against proposals to introduce invasive regulations.
The rally was in response to a “Homeschool Informational Hearing” called by the Democrat-controlled Education Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly.
Capitol police reported that at least 2,125 homeschool supporters checked into the legislative office building. Protestors filled the first floor, hearing and overflow rooms, and five balconies surrounding the atrium with signs, singing, and chanting “Freedom, freedom.”
Peter Wolfgang, a Catholic lobbyist and the president of the Family Institute of Connecticut, told CatholicVote, “We haven’t seen this kind of energy, these kinds of numbers in this building since COVID.”
“This is amazing,” said Ana Ahern, a 15-year-old homeschool student who took the day to be present at the Capitol. “The energy is incredible. It’s sad that our representatives won’t meet with us, though.”
Connecticut, with an estimated 40,000 homeschool families, has among the fewest state regulations for homeschooling in the country. Among the regulations proposed by Democrats are annual academic testing and annual medical examinations for homeschooled children.
While no specific bill was available for constituents to review or respond to, opponents of such regulations speculate that Democrats plan to include the new mandates in an upcoming state budget bill with no further public hearings or opportunities for public comment.
Wolfgang condemned the lack of opportunity for rally-goers to voice their concerns: “The Informational Hearing did not allow for public comment. Only invited guests were allowed to speak. There were five experts speaking on behalf of regulating homeschooling, and only two were permitted to speak against it.”
The only homeschooled person allowed to speak was Beau Triba, a member of the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE). Triba testified that her home education was “bigoted and Puritanical” and blamed the homeschool parents in her experience for her depression.
Homeschool advocacy groups rallied when the Democrat-controlled legislature’s Education Committee and the Committee on Children announced a last-minute joint informational hearing on homeschooling law. No opportunity was given for public comment on the proposed regulations from homeschool families or other stakeholders.
The hearing on regulations was ostensibly called in response to a tragic case in the city of Waterbury, in which an 11-year-old child was withdrawn from public school and held captive in his home for 20 years. The man finally escaped when he set fire to the house and was found by firefighters.
According to case records, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) was notified that the child was in danger 21 times before his stepmother withdrew him and confined him to the basement. A 2016 report from the Office of the Administration for Children and Families (OACF) found that “strict adherence to the current child protective services guidelines is the best way to safeguard children against abuse and neglect.”
At the hearing, DCF Commissioner Jodi Hill-Lily deflected questions about the agency’s failure in the Waterbury case, claiming instead that “there are limitations to what DCF can do in certain situations without law enforcement involvement.” The state legislature, she added, needs to close homeschooling “loopholes” to keep children safe.
Wolfgang commented, “The majority party gaslit Connecticut homeschoolers throughout the day. They claimed repeatedly that homeschoolers were not being scapegoated for the Waterbury ‘House of Horrors’ tragedy. But that incident was the only reason the hearing was held at all. There were no similar hearings to look into reforming Connecticut law regarding DCF, the Waterbury Public Schools, or the Waterbury Police, all of whom were directly implicated in that poor man falling through the cracks all those years.”
“Homeschoolers have nothing to do with the tragic situation in Waterbury,” Republican state senator Eric Berthel also argued in a statement before the hearing. “Instead of focusing on DCF and the Waterbury public school system on how and why that child fell through the cracks of the system, Democrats have targeted the 40,000 homeschoolers in our state who do an amazing job of educating their students outside of Connecticut’s education system.”
In a packed press conference ahead of the hearing, State Sen. Heath Somers, a Republican, claimed to speak for the thousands of protestors: “The Waterbury case is an isolated and extremely tragic incident, but it is not a reflection of the homeschooling community… Homeschooling is not the problem.”
Homeschool supporters in the conference wore medical masks with the words “Forced Silence” in protest of the fact that the Education Committee refused to allow public comment on its proposals.
Since 2022, parents have withdrawn over 5,200 schoolchildren from the state system. Since COVID, the state has invested more than $250 million in additional tax dollars towards K – 12 education. The state’s 2024 NAEP scores indicate that the average Connecticut fourth grade student is below grade-level proficiency in mathematics, reading, and science and shows no improvement since 2020.
