9 things Illinoisans should know before letting ‘Homeschool Act’ become law

House Bill 2827 would regulate both homeschool families and private schools in Illinois. Its extensive provisions have generated historic opposition. Here are nine things you should know about how it will impact education, privacy and your family.

A bill that would regulate the families of nonpublic school students has generated historic opposition in the Illinois General Assembly.

House Bill 2827, filed by state Rep. Terra Costa Howard, D-Lombard, would impose extensive regulations on homeschooling and private schools.

It’s been downplayed as simply filling out a form, but the “Homeschool Act” involves much more. Here are nine things you should know about HB 2827:

1. The homeschool regulation creates a child registry, including children’s gender.
2. Failing to file the form carries jail time.
3. An “education portfolio” can be demanded at any time from homeschool families, allowing government abuse of power.
4. The homeschool regulation requires more of homeschool administrators than the state does of public schools.
5. The bill isn’t clear on how the regulate on would be enforced, creating substantial legal questions.
6. The regulations would eat into education funding or other resources.
7. The bill also regulates private schools.
8. The bill creates a registry of residents’ religions.
9. The bill has generated historic opposition.

You can tell your lawmaker to vote “no” on HB 2827 by using our Take Action tool. 

1) The homeschool regulation creates a child registry, including children’s gender

The current version of HB 2827 requires homeschool families to file a “homeschool declaration form” each year with their local school district. But it’s much more than a simple form.

Instead, it mandates the reporting of personal information including, at a minimum, the child’s name, birthdate, grade level and home address, as well as the name, birth date, contact information and home address of the homeschool administrator.

But there is no limit on what information could be required on the form. The Illinois State Board of Education is simply tasked with creating the form and could require any information it wants. Other provisions in the bill indicate additional information will be required for government authorities to generate required annual reports.

For example, each year the regional office of education must create an annual report that includes the total count of homeschooling students broken down by grade level and gender. While a child’s gender is not required in the initial provision outlining the minimum requirements in the form, the form is clearly intended to gather more than just the information explicitly mentioned in the bill. And the state board of education is given the extensive authority to “adopt any rules necessary” to implement and administer the act.

With name, age, grade, address and gender already included, there’s no reason to think other questions – such as race, ethnicity or other affiliations – would not also be included.

There is no provision allowing parents to opt out of having their children and their personal information tracked by state and local authorities.

2) Failing to file the form carries jail time

Children “shall be considered truant” if the homeschool administrator “has not submitted” the declaration form. The homeschool administrator could be convicted of a Class C misdemeanor, with penalties including up to 30 days imprisonment and a fine up to $500.

There are also strict limits on when the forms must be submitted:

• By Aug. 1 of each school year.
• Within 10 business days after withdrawing from a public school to enroll in homeschool.
• Within 10 business days after moving to a new school district.

Failing to submit the form within just 10 days of a major event – such as removing a child from school because of substantial health issues or moving across the state – could trigger truancy prosecution.

And because a local district does not have to keep any documentation once the forms are sent on to a regional office, there would be no way for a local family to prove they had indeed submitted the form. While the regional office keeps the record for five years, that only happens if it receives the information in the first place. Truancy charges could follow a local district’s paperwork error, placing a heavy burden on both the district and the parents.

3) An “education portfolio” can be demanded at any time from homeschool families, allowing government abuse of power

HB 2827 also requires homeschooling families to create an “education portfolio” that can be demanded at any time and for any reason. In fact, it can be demanded simply to prove adequacy of the homeschool education, and there are no parameters on when or why that “evidence” can be demanded.

At a minimum, the portfolio must include: a log of the curricular materials used; samples of any writings, worksheets or other materials completed by the child; and the homeschool administrator’s assessment of the child’s academic progress in each subject.

But as with the homeschool declaration form, the bill only outlines the minimum requirements of the portfolio. More could be required under the broad authority granted to the state board of education in the bill.

What’s more, authorities’ reasons for demanding the portfolio are not limited. One section provides the portfolio can be demanded by a regional office of education as “evidence” that the “homeschool program provides a course of instruction that is sufficient to satisfy the education requirements” of the state. There’s no indication of what might trigger authorities to seek evidence the instruction is “sufficient,” leaving it to the whim of a government bureaucrat. It could be executed differently from region to region, a red flag in constitutional law. A reasonable person must know what is required and when, and that is not possible under this bill.

Supporters of the bill claim the portfolio provision only applies when there is suspected truancy, but the explicit language does not limit it to suspected truancy. There are at least two other provisions that indicate otherwise:

• Section 20(f) provides a homeschool administrator’s proof of high school graduation can be demanded “based on questions of truancy or whether an adequate education is occurring.” There’s no reason to think that would not also be the case with the educational portfolio.
• Section 25(d) of the bill provides a child will not be considered truant, protecting a family from investigation, if 1) the declaration form has been submitted and 2) if requested, an educational portfolio has been provided. It does not indicate that suspected truancy triggers No. 2. It suggests No. 1 and No. 2 protect the family from being suspected in the first place.

With no explicit language limiting when the educational portfolio can be demanded, and other provisions indicating it could be demanded for reasons unrelated to truancy, the educational portfolio mandate is ripe for abuse by government bureaucrats.

4) The homeschool regulation requires more of homeschool administrators than the state does of public schools

Public schools are not required to report their own lists of curricula to the families of enrolled students. The homeschool regulations thus requires more from homeschool families than it does from public school administrators and teachers.

There’s no limit on when or why the educational portfolio could be demanded of homeschoolers. Homeschool families could be hounded to provide intricate, time-consuming records of their curricula and grading at any time, and for any reason – and then judged by a government bureaucrat on its “sufficiency.”

If lawmakers tried that in public schools, teachers unions – who loath annual teacher evaluations and tying student growth to teacher evaluations – would rebel. When a state requires more tracking of and “evidence” from families than it does public school administrators and teachers, it is government overreach.

5) The bill isn’t clear on how the regulation would be enforced, creating substantial legal questions

The language of HB 2827 creates substantial procedural questions that affect the legality of the bill.

Here is what we know – and don’t know – from the bill’s language:

• The homeschool administrator is to submit the homeschool declaration form to the local school district.
• The public school district transmits the form to the regional office of education or immediate service center or Chicago Public Schools, depending on location.
• The regional office of education stores the information.
• If the form is not submitted to the local district, the child is considered truant.

Questions remain: What triggers this truancy consideration? Does the local district let the regional office of education know it hasn’t received a form? There’s no reporting requirement in the bill that the local district pass on anything other than the forms. How does a local district know the form is missing, particularly if a child has never been enrolled? Is the local district responsible for seeking out all non-enrolled children in the district? That isn’t included in the bill. Does the local district rely on hearsay reports from neighbors or passersby who see kids at home during the day?

• A copy of the homeschool administrator’s proof of high school graduation shall be available upon request by a regional office of education based on questions of truancy or whether an adequate education is occurring.

Questions remain: Again, how does the regional office of education know to investigate truancy because of missing proof of high school graduation? Does the local district report to them? That isn’t provided in the bill. Is the district responsible for investigating any potential non-filers before reporting them as truant to the regional office?

And why would a regional office think a child isn’t receiving an adequate education? That isn’t defined or explained in the bill, but it is clearly considered something separate from truancy.

• A truancy officer, regional office of education or intermediate service center sends the family notice of the required form if they have “knowledge that the homeschool administrator is operating a homeschool program and has not notified a public school through the submission of a Homeschool Declaration Form.”

Questions remain: How does the truancy officer know to investigate? Who contacts the truancy officer to inform him of missing forms?  That isn’t explained in the bill. And again, how do any of these authorities have this “knowledge”?

• A regional office of education is empowered to conduct truancy hearings under Section 26-8.

Questions remain: Under that section, the only penalty the truancy officer or regional office of education can enforce is punishing the child with community service. If the truancy persists, then the authorities make a complaint to the state’s attorney in the area or conduct truancy mediation. If the truancy still continues and the child is beyond the control of the parents, then a truancy complaint is filed under the Juvenile Court Act. Must this process happen first before jumping to the criminal penalties outlined in HB 2827?

During the committee hearing on March 19, proponents did not explain how this process would prevent abuse or reduce truancy, their alleged reasons for creating the bill. The spokesperson for the state board of education testified the board has no plans to do an ad campaign or outreach to families to alert them to the new requirements if the bill becomes law. Instead, it is simply going to place information on its website and in its weekly message to districts, with it being “incumbent on homeschool families to file the form.”

6) The regulations would eat into education funding or other resources

During the hearing, the spokesperson for the regional offices of education testified the bill’s requirements would both increase the offices’ workload and add additional costs.

“This [bill] increases the workload,” stated Gary Tipsord, the executive director of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, which supports the regional offices of education.

“There’s likely to be additional costs. Those currently are unknown. We just don’t know what the cost would be,” he continued. “You would anticipate additional cost or moving resources from one area to another.”

Considering the regional offices of education appear to have the largest role in enforcing the bill’s provisions, Tipsord’s testimony carries significant weight.

7) The bill also regulates private schools

HB 2827 requires all private schools to register annually with the state, something that is currently optional.

That includes reporting personal information on every enrolled child – including name, date of birth, grade level and address, as well as parents’ information – at any time requested by the state board of education or regional office of education. That could be more than once a year and, like the homeschool regulation, there is no guidance on reasoning.  It could be executed differently from region to region, a red flag in constitutional law.

8) The bill creates a registry of residents’ religions 

Both the homeschool and private school regulations require gathering information on people’s religious affiliations. By requiring a log of homeschool families’ curricula in the educational portfolio, the state would be gathering a list of families that use specific religious curricula. Similarly, mandating a private parochial school to hand over the personal information of children and parents allows the state to identify which families subscribe to which religions.

Forcing parents to identify religious curriculum via an “education portfolio” or requiring parochial schools to divulge their families’ names is akin to the state creating a list of parents and the religions to which they subscribe. That is unconstitutional and sets a dangerous precedent of tracking not just who attends what school, but what religions or worldviews they are being taught.

9) The bill has generated historic opposition

The Illinois General Assembly allows residents and organizations to register official support or opposition whenever a bill is scheduled for a committee hearing.

The current version of HB 2827 received a record-breaking 51,000+ opponents. It’s the most on record since the 97th General Assembly (2011-2012) started the online filings.

It’s no wonder, given the quagmire of government overreach and constitutional violations if passed.   

You can tell your lawmaker to protect the rights of homeschool and private school families

Illinois should empower parents to be in charge of their child’s education rather than empower bureaucrats to track parents’ schooling decisions.

Use our Take Action tool to contact your lawmaker and tell them to vote “no” on HB 2827.