New Illinois bill would require homeschool families to notify state or face truancy

State of play: Current required subjects for home school students, according to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), are: Language arts, math, biological and physical science, social studies, fine arts and physical development and health.

• There are no specific classes or duration of study required in those subjects.
• There is no requirement to administer tests, projects or grades or mandate to report any student assessment to the state.
• Parents or guardians do not need a high school diploma or GED to homeschool.

Zoom in: The bill would require the ISBE to create a Homeschool Declaration Form that homeschool families submit to the school district where the child would otherwise attend.

• If the form's not submitted, the student would be considered truant.
• If a child wants to enroll in a public school or school activities, they will need to have required immunizations or a signed Certificate of Religious Exemption.

Context: Rep. Terra Costa Howard (D-Lombard), the bill's sponsor, told WGN she introduced the legislation in February after a ProPublica investigation last year reported on a homeschooled boy in central Illinois who told welfare officials he was beaten, denied food and had no school lessons.

• Howard, who is also chair of the Adoption and Child Welfare Committee and an attorney involved in child welfare, said the concern in cases like that is the lack of adults who could spot and report signs of abuse at home.
• "For the vast majority of homeschooling families, these changes will have minimal impact," Howard told Axios in a statement.
• "The intent of this bill is to help in cases of child abuse, in which adults are claiming to 'homeschool' in an attempt to isolate children, or when families are flagrantly neglecting their legal responsibility to educate their children, in violation of the principles of homeschooling."

The other side: The Illinois Home School Association in a statement calls the bill "a very expensive unfunded mandate," and that many parents have chosen this route because "the public school system is clearly failing many of our students."

• "This bill will not save lives. In every single case they have brought to us of an abused child not in school it has become clear that Child Protection Services already knew of the family and was stretched too thin to help," the association added.

Reality check: The bill would ask that parents maintain a simple portfolio providing evidence of education in required subjects, in the case that a truancy investigation is launched.

• "Nothing in the bill provides for random investigations or 'checks' by a local school district or Regional Office of Education," Howard said.

Yes, but: ISBE does recommend that home schoolers check what colleges require if students plan on applying.

Zoom out: Homeschooling became more popular during the pandemic and stuck through the 2022-23 school year, a Washington Post analysis found.

• The Post estimated there were between 1.9 million and 2.7 million home-schooled children in the United States that year.

Yes, but: Illinois is not included in the analysis since families are not required to notify the state when they decide to homeschool.

What we're watching: The Illinois House is back in session next week, and sponsors will push to get it out of committee.