IL Bill Creates ‘Prison Pipeline’ For Homeschoolers, Critics Say

Illinois’ Democrat-run legislature is fast-tracking a bill that critics say attempts to criminalize parents’ ability to homeschool their children in the Prairie State.

This bill “continues that prison pipeline for homeschool parents,” said Will Estrada, senior counsel for the Home School Legal Defense Association.

Dubbed “The Homeschool Act” (HB 2827), the measure in question seemingly seeks to increase restrictions governing homeschooling in Illinois.

According to Fox News, the original version of the legislation included provisions that sought to “charge parents with a misdemeanor if they fail to register their kids in a ‘homeschool declaration form’ to the nearest public school they would otherwise be attending.” The original bill also reportedly attempted to require parents to provide “documentation of immunizations and health examinations for children who wish to participate in public school activities.”

The controversial legislation generated widespread backlash across Illinois, resulting in massive protests at the state Capitol ahead of a March 19 hearing before the House Education Policy Committee. The committee nonetheless voted to advance the bill to the floor.

Backlash to the legislation did not relent, however. Continued outcry over the proposal prompted lawmakers to offer an amended version of the bill, which critics say includes provisions that made it “even worse.”

In her written testimony provided to the state House Education Policy Committee, the Illinois Policy Institute’s Mailee Smith, an attorney and homeschooling mother, contended that the amended version of HB 2827 is “arguably more problematic than the version that passed out of this committee on March 19.” She specifically highlighted a section of the altered bill pertaining to the required “homeschool notification form” that mandates homeschooling parents include “any curriculum purchased or used for the homeschool.”

“Requiring parents to file an annual list of curricula is burdensome and confusing,” Smith wrote. “Ironically, this is not something public schools are even required to list or post.”

Smith also raised objections to the bill’s provisions regarding truancy investigations into homeschooling parents.

According to the measure, “A report of truancy or educational neglect that has been referred or made to a regional office of education, intermediate service center, or regional superintendent shall be further investigated by a truant officer.” Should the officer discover “evidence that supports a reasonable cause to believe the student is suffering educational neglect or not receiving an adequate education,” he “shall refer the case to the relevant State Attorney’s office for further action.”

As noted by Smith, however, not until the bill’s final pages do the authors seemingly disclose that these “reports of truancy” could be filed against homeschooling parents by anonymous actors.

“[W]here is [the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services] getting a report that a family may be homeschooling and hasn’t submitted a form or isn’t providing an ‘adequate’ education?” Smith wrote. “That’s 59 pages into the bill, where it amends the ‘Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act’ to add the following requirement: Whenever DCFS receives a report of suspected truancy via its toll-free hotline, the department shall notify the caller that the report must go to the local regional office of education and provide a website to find the contact information.”

“This appears to be the mechanism that triggers everything: a potentially anonymous report. A nosy neighbor. Or someone who just doesn’t agree with homeschooling,” she added.

The bill also provides truancy officers notified of potential truancy or neglect with the power to “meet with the child or children complained of” without parents present “and make an initial determination of whether there is cause to start a truancy investigation.”

“We’re not talking about an ongoing investigation but an inquiry into whether there should be an investigation at all,” Smith wrote. “Even if a determination of ‘no cause’ is made, the damage is already done — children have already been interviewed by a stranger without their parents present.”

The amended version of HB 2827 was passed by the House Education Policy Committee on Wednesday. It must now pass the full House on Friday to cross over to the Senate, according to The Center Square. As of publication, the House had re-referred the legislation to the Rules Committee.