Illinois bill aims to add more oversight of homeschooling
[March 04, 2025]
By Molly Parker and Beth Hundsdorfer
A new Illinois bill aims to add some oversight of families who
homeschool their children, a response to concerns that the state does
little to ensure these students receive an education and are protected
from harm.
The measure, known as the Homeschool Act, comes after an investigation
by Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica last year found that Illinois is
among a small number of states that place virtually no rules on parents
who homeschool their children. Parents don’t have to register with any
state agency or school district, and authorities cannot compel them to
track attendance, demonstrate their teaching methods or show student
progress.
Under the new bill, families would be required to tell their school
districts when they decide to homeschool their children, and the parents
or guardians would need to have a high school diploma or equivalent. If
education authorities have concerns that children are receiving
inadequate schooling, they could require parents to share evidence of
teaching materials and student work.
Illinois Rep. Terra Costa Howard, a Democrat from a Chicago suburb who
is sponsoring the legislation, said she began meeting with education and
child welfare officials in response to the news organizations’
investigation, which detailed how some parents claimed to be removing
their children from school to homeschool but then failed to educate
them.
The investigation documented the case of L.J., a 9-year-old whose
parents decided to homeschool him after he missed so much school that he
faced the prospect of repeating third grade. He told child welfare
authorities that he was beaten and denied food for several years while
out of public school and that he received almost no education. In
December 2022, on L.J.’s 11th birthday, the state took custody of him
and his younger siblings; soon after, he was enrolled in public school.
The most recent numbers available at the time of the news organizations’
investigation showed nearly 4,500 children were recorded as withdrawn
from public school for homeschooling in 2022 — a number that had doubled
over a decade. But there is no way to determine the precise number of
students who are homeschooled in Illinois, because the state doesn’t
require parents to register.
The bill would require the state to collect data on homeschooling
families. Regional Offices of Education would gather the information,
and the state board would compile an annual report with details on the
number, grade level and gender of homeschooled students within each
region.
Homeschool families and advocates said they will fight the measure,
which they argue would infringe on parental rights. Past proposals to
increase oversight also have met swift resistance. The sponsor of a 2011
bill that would have required homeschool registration withdrew it after
hundreds of people protested at the Illinois State Capitol. In 2019, a
different lawmaker abandoned her bill after similar opposition to rules
that would have required curriculum reviews and inspections by child
welfare officials.
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(ProPublica. Source images: Susie Ang for ProPublica, Illinois
General Assembly)
The Home School Legal Defense Association, which describes itself as a
Christian organization that advocates for homeschool freedom, said it
plans to host virtual meetings to educate families on the bill and ways
they can lobby against it.
Kathy Wentz of the Illinois Homeschool Association, which is against
homeschool regulations, said she is concerned about the provision that
would allow the state to review education materials, called a “portfolio
review” in the legislation. She said visits from education officials
could be disruptive to teaching.
The bill would require all private schools to register with the state.
The Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica investigation found that it’s
all but impossible for education officials to intervene when parents
claim they are homeschooling. The state’s child welfare agency, the
Department of Children and Family Services, doesn’t investigate
schooling matters.
Under the proposed law, if the department has concerns about a family
that says it is homeschooling, the agency could request that education
officials conduct a more thorough investigation of the child’s
schooling. The new law would then allow education officials to check
whether the family notified its district about its decision to
homeschool and compel parents to turn over homeschool materials for
review.
The increased oversight also aims to help reduce truancy and protect
homeschooled students who lose daily contact with teachers and others
who are mandated to report abuse and neglect, Costa Howard said. Some
truancy officials said that under existing law they have no recourse to
compel attendance or review what students are learning at home when a
family says they are homeschooling.
Jonah Stewart, research director for the Coalition for Responsible Home
Education, a national organization of homeschool alumni that advocates
for homeschooling regulation, said the lack of oversight in Illinois
puts children at risk. “This bill is a commonsense measure and is
critical not only to address educational neglect but also child safety,”
Stewart said.
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government
coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily
by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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