Testimony: ‘Homeschool Act’ is unconstitutional government intrusion into families’ privacy

As Illinois House members consider regulating homeschools and private schools, Illinois Policy and parents across Illinois have registered their opposition to government intrusion into constitutionally protected rights.

State lawmakers’ are trying to regulate homeschools and private schools, but are running up against fierce opposition from over 60,000 Illinoisans who publicly voiced their opposition on the Illinois General Assembly’s website.

Illinois Policy Senior Director of Labor Policy Mailee Smith submitted written testimony about House Bill 2827, “The Homeschool Act,” to warn state lawmakers they were invading families’ privacy, likely pursuing an unconstitutional policy and making demands on private education that public schools are not required to follow.

Here is her written testimony submitted to the Illinois House.

Testimony on House Bill 2827, “The Homeschool Act”

Thank you, Chairperson Mussman, Vice-Chair Faver Dias and members of the committee for the opportunity to provide testimony.

I am Mailee Smith, staff attorney and senior director of labor policy at Illinois Policy.

I am before you today not only in my official capacity as an attorney, but also as the mother of three children whose experiences include having been in public high school since 2020, in a private K-8 school from 2011-2024, and one who is currently being homeschooled. I also spent nearly a decade as a school board member of a private school.

That experience in all three educational environments makes me uniquely qualified to share my legal and personal concerns – of which I have many. But I want to make clear from the outset: House Bill 2827 is a violation of parents’ constitutional rights to direct the educational upbringing of their children, as recognized 100 years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nothing in HB 2827 is about what’s best for kids or somehow improves education for those students who are struggling. Instead, it’s about tracking and regulating every single family and school that is not a government public school. That’s why the original version of this bill, which is nearly identical in substance to the amended version, together with the amendment generated a historic 60,000+ witness slips in opposition, versus about 1,000 in support as of March 18. That is a record for the highest number of witness slips filed against a bill since at least 2011. Many, if not most of the mere 1,000 in support appear to be opponents of the bill who filed incorrectly under the confusing slipping system.

There are two main components of this bill: the regulation of homeschool families, and the regulation of private schools. Both are constitutionally flawed.

The regulation of homeschool families requires an annual “homeschool declaration form,” yet it is more than just a form. The bill mandates the reporting of personal information, including a child’s name and birthdate, but there is no limitation on what can be required in the declaration form. The Illinois State Board of Education is simply tasked with creating it. Homeschool families would have no say over what private information they must report to their local school district.

Then there’s the required “educational portfolio” that can be demanded by a regional office of education at any time and for any reason. The reasoning and requirements could be executed differently from region to region, creating uncertainty across the state regarding what is required.

That “educational portfolio” must include a log of curricular materials used and samples of writing, worksheets or other materials written by the child. Ironically, there is no similar requirement in state law that public schools report their own lists of curricula to the families of enrolled students. As I know from experience, parents of public-school children get no list of curricula or other learning materials utilized in public school classrooms.

What’s more, the collection of families’ lists of curricula amounts to a government log of what students are being educated using religious curriculum – akin to creating a list of families that subscribe to a particular religion or denomination.

The regulation of private schools is also constitutionally problematic. The original version of HB 2827 requires all elementary and secondary private schools to report personal information on every enrolled child and their parents – including name, date of birth, grade level and home address – to ISBE and either a regional office or Chicago Public Schools. The amendment doesn’t change the problematic substance of this requirement. Instead of an annual report of personal information, the amendment requires the reporting any time it is requested by ISBE or a regional office. That could be more than once a year and for any reason. It is left to the whim of the state and, like the homeschool regulation, could be executed differently from region to region.

If this bill were just about tracking the number of students engaged in private education, it could have required private schools to simply report the number of enrolled students by grade. But this goes much farther, requiring the transmission of personal information to the state.

As such, HB 2827 is a prime example of government overreach.  The state doesn’t need to know exactly which school every child is attending. And there is no provision allowing parents to opt out of having their children tracked by state and local authorities.

And as with the homeschool mandates, there are religious liberty implications with the private-school regulation. Thousands of Illinois school children attend parochial schools. This regulation is akin to the state creating a log of what religions those parents affiliate with – something the government cannot do.

Notably, it’s that type of government tracking that influences parents to choose private school or homeschool in the first place.

In conclusion, the state should not be tracking private school and homeschool kids and their families. It should not be compiling lists of religious affiliations. There are significant constitutional violations involved. I urge this committee and members of the House to vote “no.”