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The efforts of thousands of homeschoolers to challenge an Illinois bill that would have increased regulations on education at home were successful, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSDLA) announced June 17.
Illinois House Bill 2827 advanced through committee but neither chamber voted on it before the Illinois General Assembly adjourned on May 31, the association said in an emailed news release.
“This is a tremendous win for homeschooling families in Illinois and a powerful demonstration of what can be achieved when parents unite to protect their fundamental rights,” Will Estrada, the association’s senior counsel, said in the release. “The outpouring of support, the tens of thousands who filed witness slips, and the thousands who traveled to Springfield to voice their concerns directly to their legislators made all the difference. We are incredibly proud of the Illinois homeschool community.”
Hannah Schmid, a policy analyst at the Illinois Policy Institute, said in a column on May 16 that the bill broke a record for its accumulation of opposing witness slips. The bill received opposing slips from 42,393 people on its first version, 51,328 on its first amendment, and 43,179 on its last amendment. All of those numbers received more opposition slips than any other bill has since the state launched its witness system, according to Schmid.
Among other provisions, the bill would have mandated parents to submit a notification form that included personal information and “may” have also required notice of any curriculum the parents chose to use, Schmid wrote.
By doing so, “the state would be gathering a list of families that use specific religious curricula, ultimately creating lists of families’ religious affiliations,” she wrote.
Schmid said other concerning provisions included that truancy officers would be able to meet children, without their parents, “just to establish whether there is ‘cause’ for an investigation,” and anonymous reports could have prompted investigations of homeschooling families.
The bill also required homeschool administrators, such as parents, to have a high school diploma or equivalent, and to notify their local school district each year that they planned to homeschool their children. Truancy officers were also able to request that the homeschool administrator present an educational portfolio for the child within 10 days.
The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), a group run by adults who were homeschooled as children, had supported the bill, as CatholicVote previously reported.
Jonah Stewart, CRHE’s interim executive director, said in a June 2 statement that the bill broke a different record; it advanced further than other homeschool safety bills Illinois legislators have considered.
According to Stewart, the coalition saw that homeschooled students, formerly homeschooled individuals, and homeschool allies support the bill and “safety and equality for all Illinois students.” The coalition hopes the bill will pass in the next legislative session.
“In spite of the rampant disinformation that was spread about this bill,” he said, “we know there are many legislators and many Illinoisians who can see clearly the need for this kind of law and share our vision of a world in which every kid has the right to safety, the right to an education, and the right to access the resources they need to thrive.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, Illinois teachers’ unions had donated at least $3.5 million to legislators who were supporting the bill, according to the Illinois Policy Institute. CatholicVote also reported that the Catholic Conference of Illinois had originally opposed the bill, stating that it would demand Catholic schools to share students’ and families’ personal data, but an amendment to the bill addressed that concern.