Statehouse finds ‘Homeschool Act’ would cost taxpayers unknown amount

A note added to House Bill 2827 shows it likely will add costs for school districts, regional offices of education and even individual schools. The Illinois State Board of Education should retract its support of the bill restricting homeschools and private schools.

The Illinois State Board of Education filed its official support for House Bill 2827, dubbed the “Homeschool Act,” because it didn’t think the bill would cost any money. But that’s not true.

Instead, the bill could impose unknown costs on local schools, school districts and regional offices of education, according to a fiscal note added to the bill.

A fiscal note is like a price tag on a proposed law. The Illinois General Assembly defines it as a “statement attached to a bill giving the estimated amount of increase or decrease in revenue or expenditures and the present and future fiscal implications of a bill.”

Here’s what the fiscal note on HB 2827 says:

“This change would have a fiscal impact on the Illinois State Board of Education, with estimated costs of $1,574.16 for implementation. There may also be increased costs to school districts, regional offices of education, and public schools, but those amounts are currently unknown. The State Board of Education recommends that sponsors consult with relevant stakeholders to better understand the potential costs to districts.”

While the cost to the state board of education is minimal – less than $1,600 – it may cost local schools, school districts and regional offices an unknown amount of money. That would be another unfunded state mandate, but one where the cost is anyone’s guess.

The fiscal note is underscored by the committee testimony of the spokesperson for the regional offices of education.

“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.”

It’s no wonder. The bill includes layers of complicated bureaucracy and the passing of records from local schools to local districts, from local districts to regional offices of education, and from those regional offices to the state board of education. It involves data collection, ensuring secure data storage, tracking down private families to investigate their curriculums and possible truancy, evaluation of the adequacy of families’ curriculums, potential truancy hearings and more. And the language of the bill is so vague it’s not clear which responsibility each level of government school would be undertaking.

A representative from the Illinois State Board of Education testified in the March 19 committee hearing its representatives have “been instructed to oppose bills that have a fiscal impact on the state board of education, and we do not anticipate this bill to have a fiscal impact on us.”

But the fiscal note says otherwise. The bill’s provisions likely will cost money. The state board of education should retract its support for HB 2827.

You can tell your lawmaker to vote “no” on HB 2827

Illinois should empower parents to be in charge of their children’s educations rather than empower bureaucrats to track and judge parents’ schooling decisions. It should not impose costly requirements on local schools and districts to track down unenrolled families.

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