On March 19, 2025 (yesterday), State Representatives voted in favor of HB2827, “Homeschool Act,” in Springfield. My husband and I had the opportunity to watch starting at 10:00am until the final vote count at 11:40am (when I made a mad dash to get to work on time!).
The bill passed with 4 votes in opposition and 8 in agreement. I am one of the 47,000 witness slips in opposition to the bill and still am in opposition.
Since we have a logician (the 7th grader) at home, it was interesting to hear the generalizations and red herrings from both sides of the argument. Logic fallacies aside, I was hit with some startling reactions concerning HB 2827 and would like to share them with you.
Where the bill has merit…
The primary proponent’s side has a well-deserved concern that we protect the kids who are being homeschooled. However, I believe this wasn’t addressed adequately. The discussion in the courtroom was brought up, but didn’t get to the point of agreement or come up with good, practical solutions to keep homeschoolers from harming their children — while ensuring healthy homeschoolers are not victimized in the process! This issue needs to come up again with a better approach.
This is my point: filling out a declaration form will not hinder an abusive parent from hurting their child.
>>> If they are able to hide their family from neighbors and society, they can certainly lie on a declaration form.
>>> Even providing a completed educational portfolio can be done without ever educating a child.
>>> The threat of truancy and jail time is a moot point since all that is required is a form turned in on time.
There was a lot of discussion about DCFS (Illinois Department of Children and Family Services) and the fact that DCFS will not be the organization to knock on the door, since they are not educator regulators. ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) and ROE (Regional Offices of Education) are responsible for that — as if they have time or personnel to follow up with all homeschoolers in Illinois!
But I digress…
It would be the educator regulators (ISBE and ROE) who will check-up on homeschoolers. In the case of truancy (aka, mom not filling out the declaration form correctly or the school not submitting the form to the ROE on time), a truant officer will start the process and the case will then be turned over to the State Attorney.
However, the quality of education isn’t the issue here. The bill is trying to address harm done to a child, which is the case of DCFS. It is unfortunate that the opposition is correct in saying that in the case of Zion Staples, a 10-year-old boy who was found dead in an abusive environment where the mom purposefully did not enroll her children in school (read the news article here: Police: 10-year-old Rock Island boy accidentally shot himself before mom hid body), the DCFS was already involved and did not adequately protect the child. I can imagine other cases are similar. A truant officer who reviews the educational portfolio will be less effective.
My heart goes out to the young woman who testified in the hearing (I think her name is Isabella or Elizabeth) as a victim of an abusive and manipulative homeschool environment. I truly hope homeschoolers and public school administrators can work on a solution to ensure children are recognized by the state and are protected.
Unfortunately, nothing in the bill will ensure beneficial homeschooling is happening and the bill is also too weak to prevent harm of a child.
Where the bill is wrong…
#1. According to this bill, a high school diploma or a GED is required to homeschool one’s own children.
First of all, having a high school education is not a requirement to provide a thriving learning experience. Secondly, the bill offers no support in helping a parent achieve that status while raising their children, homeschooling, and perhaps even while working. While trying to protect children from harmful parents, the bill inadvertantly threatens wonderfully productive homeschool families who have risen from their own status and set their kids on a path to graduate from 12th grade in addition to achieving their dreams. This bill does not support homeschoolers, but hinders them – even so much as intimidating them!
#2. The consequences for not complying are too strict.
If this bill becomes law, failure to process the declaration form in the required time deems the children truant and the consequence is a hefty fine and the parents put in jail. In other words, while seeking to prevent children from being harmed by abusive parents, loving parents could potentially be separated from their children because of a simple clerical error. During the hearing it was noted that even strict states such as Pennsylvania and New York do not escalate to fines and imprisonment for failing to comply. Such extreme consequences only intimidate parents who want to educate their kids, while not preventing abusive parents from harming their children.
#3. The requirements of the educational portfolio is open-ended and can be changed at any time, leaving too much room for error.
I agree with accountability and regulation. I would applaud a bill that motivates homeschoolers and gives us more support. However, this bill only states that homeschoolers are required to fill out a declaration form without any limit to how much information a region can require. The time of the check-in are also up to the individual regions, so it could be annually — or it could be more often. As was noted during the hearing, the declaration form should be limited to how many children are being homeschooled and nothing more.
For these three reasons – unnecessary standards, extreme consequences, and variable requirements – I oppose and will continue to oppose HB2827.
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