Illinois bill sparks debate

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Tuesday, the 25th of March.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Up first: regulating homeschoolers in Illinois.

Last week, a committee of the Illinois House approved a measure framed up as protecting homeschooled kids.

EICHER: In the end, the plan won committee approval and heads to the House floor. WORLD’s Education beat reporter Lauren Dunn has the story.

LAUREN DUNN: Jennifer Brady showed up at the state capitol in Springfield, Illinois, before 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

BRADY: We got there when it was still dark because we wanted to have a seat actually in the hearing.

When the House Education Policy Committee hearing began at 8 a.m., the meeting room was full. So was the rest of the building.

BRADY: All three levels of the capitol were wall-to-wall people. You could hardly even walk, it was really neat. In fact, they commented twice that this was this most people they had ever seen at the capitol.

The homeschooling mother of four came to hear lawmakers discuss House Bill 2827.

HOWARD: The Home School Act is a minimal step to provide accountability, transparency, and protections for families who choose homeschooling as an option.

That’s State Representative Terra Costa Howard, the bill’s sponsor and a Democrat representing District 42, in the suburbs of Chicago.

HOWARD: Education is a fundamental right for every child. However we know that loopholes exist and we have a duty to ensure that children actually receive an education. And that they don't fall through the cracks of our system.

Last year, the Illinois Policy Institute found that 130,000 students left public schools between 2019 and 2022. Some moved out of state. Others switched to non-public schooling. Because Illinois does not currently require parents to submit annual paperwork in order to homeschool, it is unclear how many families now educate at home.

In 2024, investigative reporting from ProPublica found instances where children pulled out of school were being neglected or abused.

One of the hearing’s witnesses was Jonah Stewart, executive director of the Coalition for Responsible Home Education. That’s a Massachusetts-based nonprofit advocating for homeschool oversight laws across several states.

STEWART: We have tracked over 500 cases of extreme abuse and neglect in homeschool settings where the abuse escalated because of the isolation afforded through homeschooling. Several of those cases were in Illinois, including seven fatalities.

Representative Howard’s bill would require the Illinois State Board of Education to register home educators and their children.

HOWARD: The bill is about a form. ISBE will create this form and it requires families to declare that they're choosing homeschooling as their option. It is that simple.

But others say the law is about a lot more than that.

SMITH: There are already robust laws on the books in Illinois to deal with truancy, educational neglect, and abuse.

Kirk Smith is executive director of Illinois Christian Home Educators. He and his wife used to teach in public schools, but in the year 2000, they began educating the first of their eleven children at home.

SMITH: People were moving to Illinois because our homeschool laws were so good. And now people are talking about moving out of Illinois, because this goes from zero to a hundred.

Smith says the language of the bill would not limit the form to gathering basic information. Education officials would have the freedom to ask for whatever details they want, including about what parents are teaching. Families would have to re-submit the form every school year. If home educators fail to file, then officials would investigate for truancy and could hand things off to the Department of Children and Family Services. The bill would also require private schools to submit similar forms for every student they enroll.

Rep. Howard and those who support the bill say the form would deter bad actors from using homeschooling to get their children off the grid. But opponents say the bill opens the door to unreasonable penalties on hard-working families. Here’s Will Estrada, senior counsel for the Home School Legal Defense Association.

ESTRADA: Not one single state in the nation, even highly regulated states like New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, make it automatic criminal class C misdemeanor, 30 days in prison if convicted, $500 fine, criminal conviction, potential removal of children and placed in temporary foster care if you fail to file paperwork.

Before Wednesday’s hearing, Illinois residents submitted witness slips in favor or opposed to the bill. Hundreds wrote in support, while tens of thousands called on lawmakers to oppose it. Around seven thousand people came to the capitol to show their opposition. Republican State Representative Daniel Swanson asked Representative Howard about those voices. Here’s how she responded.

HOWARD: This bill is about the thousands of children whose voices are not heard. I am the voice of the voiceless here today and I will continue to fight for them to have a voice, for them to be protected and for them to have the right for education.

SWANSON: I guess we're here fighting for the 47,668 that have responded as opponents to this because those are the voices I hear and the ones I see in my district, the ones I see throughout Illinois, the ones who are here today.

Kirk Smith was outside the state capitol during the hearing. He found Representative Howard’s concern for homeschooled children unconvincing, given that the cases of abuse cited occurred where children in troubled homes were pulled out of public school, not raised in home school.

SMITH: This is not a homeschooling problem, this is a public school problem, this is a parent problem, this is a sin problem. And of course in Illinois, we don't know how to deal with sin.

Sitting in the back of the hearing room, Jen Brady had her suspicions about how the committee would vote when the hearing ended.

BRADY: We were hoping that the record amount of witnesses would, would sway them, but they don't care what we say. And so they're going to push their agenda no matter what. So the feeling in the room was hopeful, but still kind of knowing these Democrats are going to vote for this bill.

MUSSMAN: There being eight votes in favor, four voting opposed and one voting present House Bill 2827 is declared passed as amended and will be favorably reported to the House floor. Thank you everyone for the robust debate today.

The bill heads to the Illinois House floor for a vote in the coming weeks.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lauren Dunn.

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