Aziza Butler

“I was a Chicago Public Schools teacher, and I definitely always intended to stay there. But when I had my own children, something changed. I realized my kids only get one chance at growing up, and they deserve the best.”

“I decided to make the jump to homeschooling, and it has gone so well. My kids are thriving. Since then, we’ve had other people come along and mirror what we’re doing.”

“Homeschooling is like an education revolution that’s happening. It’s been so viable for the minority community because of things like bullying and lowered academic standards in public schools.”

“There’s so many problems where homeschooling offers a solution. As a minority parent, I think we should celebrate and encourage that, not punish it.”

“We should not introduce bills like [the “Homeschool Act”] that have criminal penalties attached. It’s another pathway to criminalize Black and Brown families and make things more difficult for them.”

“I know they tried amending this bill when they saw how upset people were, but those changes are based on the same flawed idea as the original one: demonize active parents who take the initiative to rescue their children from a public system that fails most children.”

“They’re creating tools to target, burden and complicate these parents’ admirable choice. The tools may be different than the first draft, but they’re still there. If these parents are accused of truancy, even mistakenly, the bill threatens them with referrals to the state’s attorney – a system that is incentivized on prosecutions.”

“The amended bill even exposes its blatant disregard for trust in and support for parents by extending power to truancy officers to address minors alone without the protective presence of their parents. That moves government oversight of homeschools in a dangerous direction, especially for disadvantaged communities. All this, while they have no conclusive evidence of abuse rates present in the homeschooling community.”

“As a mother, teacher and support for homeschooling families, this overactive government intervention pains my heart.”

“Another thing people aren’t talking about is the strain this puts on the public schools, too. It’s the districts who would be charged with enforcing this completely unnecessary process. As a former teacher, I know for a fact they are already limited with resources. They are so stretched.”

“Things are already so chaotic and overburdening for teachers. They don’t have the resources to manage that and add homeschooling oversight and regulation as well. It’s a horrific idea. It won’t work out well for Illinois at all.”

“As a homeschooling parent, I feel like this bill targets families who want to take the initiative and take the lead in their kids’ educations. We have so little of that in education already.”

“Especially after the pandemic, a lot of Black families have started to homeschool. It’s odd timing to say the least. There’s a whole new community of people who are homeschooling. It’s been so successful. Our kids are thriving. They’re excellent learners. They’re having a blast.”

“We want to keep that flexibility. And we want to make it more open, not more limited.”

Aziza Butler
Homeschool mom
Chicago, Illinois