A fight over oversight

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: homeschoolers under suspicion.

This story also contains an element some parents may find too strong for younger listeners. We’ll resume in just a moment. 

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Last week, homeschooling families in Connecticut gathered at the state capitol. They came to speak against new proposed homeschool regulations in a state which currently has almost none.

WORLD’s Lindsay Mast reports.

LINDSAY MAST: State legislators introduced House Bill 54-68 as a response to two high-profile cases of child abuse. 

One of those involved the death of 11-year-old Mimi Torres Garcia. Authorities say Garcia’s mother took the child out of public school, saying she would be homeschooled. Within weeks, the child was dead. 

Audio from WTIC-TV:

FOX NEWS: 11-year-old Mimi’s remains were found last October inside a plastic storage tote behind an empty home in New Britain. The state medical examiner ruled her death a homicide saying she died from fatal child abuse with starvation.

Supporters of the bill say cases like Garcia’s expose a gap. When a child leaves the school system, they argue, regular contact with teachers, counselors, and administrators disappears. And with it, a layer of visibility that might otherwise surface concerns.

HB 54-68 would require parents to notify school officials if they plan to homeschool. That information would then be shared with the state Department of Children and Families.

The bill would also prevent parents from withdrawing a child from school during an active DCF investigation.

State Rep. Jennifer Leeper:

LEEPER 2:11: We're not doing anything to require specific curriculums or learning, and we're not limiting what we know is a very flexible learning environment in the homeschool climate.

Proponents couch the bill as child protection. They say because homeschooling could be used to conceal child abuse, more state oversight is needed.

But for many families, the question is not how much oversight is appropriate. It’s whether the state should be overseeing homeschooling at all.

Some argued the proposal starts from the wrong assumption—that parents who choose to homeschool should be treated as potential risks.

Nearly 300 people testified at a marathon public hearing that stretched nearly 19 hours—almost all opposing the bill.

OLIVIA THOMASITE: HB 54-68 ignores databased evidence, singling out homeschooling parents as inherently suspect rather than presumably innocent. If DCF has no previous history with the family, reviewing their files is an unwarranted intrusion on the family's educational decisions.

The committee was unable to adjourn the hearing until 5 AM.

Even some school administrators spoke in opposition, saying staffing isn’t sufficient for the proposed oversight.

Backlash against the Connecticut bill was strong: in addition to those who came to the capital, more than 3,600 sent written testimony.

Ralph Rodriguez of the Home School Legal Defense Association:

RALPH RODRIQUEZ: And we heard from so many families over the course of a 19 hour marathon public hearing that it's not just being able to homeschool according to the law, it's the scope of homeschool freedom within the state of Connecticut that either attracts people to the state to home educate their children, or keeps them there.

An estimated 6% of the school aged population nationwide is homeschooled.

While there are confirmed instances of parents using homeschooling as a cover for abusive practices, studies have not found the problem to have significant scope. 

One found that abuse is more related to household poverty and family structure than school type. Another found homeschooling often serves to protect against abuse in institutional schools.

Moreover, opponents of the bill argue the law also wouldn’t have prevented Garcia’s death. The child and her mother were already known to DCF. 

Rodriguez again:

RODRIGUEZ: So DCF had an open case on them long before the perpetrators of the crimes even thought of homeschooling to be used as an angle to cover up their wrongdoings. And so we believe, because of that, reform is needed within the child welfare system and DCF itself, not regulation on homeschooling.

This was a theme in the testimony against the bill in Connecticut, making the point that the proposal risks expanding the power of a system that already failed.

ELIZABETH HOLMES: The tragic cases of children harmed or killed in situations described as homeschooling over the past decade were never the result of homeschooling. These cases were failures of DCF. These failures are not rare. They are predictable. And when these failures are predictable, expanding the authority of that same system without first fixing it should concern every member of this legislature.

Students also spoke out—describing homeschooling not as a danger but as a refuge.

CODY OWENS: ​​I do not have to deal with bullies or live in fear at home, but I would at public school. I do not need you ruining what I have at home. My parents are doing a great job and do not need your help.

Under current Connecticut law, parents have broad freedom to homeschool. HB 54-68 would change that, with notification requirements that supporters say are both modest and necessary to ensure children don’t fall through cracks in the system.

Opponents counter that even limited oversight creates a new relationship between families and the state, as Rodriguez notes.

RODRIGUEZ: If something is ceded today, then that just invites future regulation. And so though the bill does not mandate any curriculums, or it doesn't really take away the right to homeschool, per se, they are encroachments on freedom.

Connecticut is one of several states which have considered new homeschool regulations since 2025. Meanwhile, at least 6 other states have introduced or passed laws either loosening homeschool restrictions or allowing greater access to Educational Savings Accounts.

The education committee could act on HB 54-68 as early as next week.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lindsay Mast.

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