Posted on 02/07/2025 9:04:48 AM PST by stars & stripes forever
Over the years, we have loved being able to tell people that Illinois was among the best states with homeschool freedoms. That is thanks, in part, to a 1950 case (People v. Levisen) in which the Illinois Supreme Court considered the case of parents who were convicted of violating a law requiring children between the ages of 7 and 16 to attend a public school. The parents in this case were Seventh Day Adventists who believed that educating their child at home was the best option.
The court determined that the term “private school” included instruction given to a child at home, as long as the instruction was adequate. The court stated that the law was not intended to punish parents who provide their children with instruction equal or superior to that available in public schools, but rather for parents who fail or refuse to properly educate their children.
The Levisen case established that homeschooling is a valid form of private education in Illinois, as long as the instruction provided is equivalent to that of public schools. This decision has been influential in the development of homeschooling laws in Illinois and other states.
But now Illinois State Representatives Terra Costa Howard (D-Lombard), Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg) and Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) want to change that. According to our friends at Illinois Christian Home Educators, the legislation they are sponsoring (HB 2827):
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(Excerpt) Read more at illinoisfamily.org ...
. Empowers a public-school district to demand—without any reason given—that a family produce an “educational portfolio” which would be approved by a local school official.
. If homeschool children participate in any public-school activities, they will have to comply with all medical and immunization requirements of the public school, unless they have a religious exemption. But this is worded in such a way that it could be a segway to require all homeschooling children to comply.
They also are concerned that this bill “will have a significant, negative impact on special needs children who have IEPs or other assistance programs.”
to send a message to your state representative to ask him/her to oppose HB 2827. You may even want to kindly urge your legislator to get failing government schools in order and leave homeschoolers alone, especially since research suggests that homeschooled students actually score higher on average than public school students.
Article:
“as long as the instruction provided is equivalent to that of public schools”
Does that mean that homeschooling parents have to mug their kids for lunch money at least once a day?
Lol.
Ping!...............
Our public-school district’s SAT math proficiency is 4%, English is 11%. FAIL!
LOL!
My son & his wife HS their daughters.
& who, pray tell, decides what is "equivalent", hmm?
Yeah, thought so.
Equivalent has been in decline for decades but yeah I get your point.
We homeschooled for years in Illinois.
First, you do NOT have to file any paperwork, so if your child was never “in” the system, the system may not even know you are homeschooling.
Second, “equivalent” has just been meant to mean that the required subjects must be taught (e.g. U.S. History, Math, Reading). The interpretation and even key points of history (for instance) are at the discretion of the parents.
Third, I didn’t see if it was mentioned, but even home schooling parents in Illinois are supposed to teach their children in the English language.
What it would in fact do is make home schooled pupils public school pupils. I am not sure but I think this may not only be a “Our way or the highway” move but an attempt to increase funding by claiming since home schooled pupils must comply with directives from the school board, et.al their daily attendance should count towards the FTE the school uses to establish government funding. I could be wrong but I think students who can’t attend school (for example) medical reasons still get counted as being in school.
Of course it is also the means to make sure the parent’s beliefs and values are pushed aside for the school’s ideology.
Don’t be silly. It just means at least one of the children must be deficient in one or more of the required subjects taught.
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For the record, it's been over 30 years since this happened but it goes to show the voice homeschoolers can have.
The Battle of H.R.6
https://hslda.org/content/about/history/battle_hr6.asp
The Levisen case established that homeschooling is a valid form of private education in Illinois, as long as the instruction provided is equivalent to that of public schools.
I didn't want *equivalent to public schools*.
I wanted FAR, FAR better. Which is why we homeschooled them.
". Mandates that parents file a “Homeschool Declaration Form” which demands private information and gives the Illinois State Board of Education [??? emphasis added] authorization to add more data collection to the annual form without legislative approval."
If I understand this correctly, the Illinois State Constitution gives legislative power only to a General Assembly, no Illinois State Board of Education mentioned. So I surmise that popularly elected career lawmakers in the General Assembly may not want to risk dealing with angry parents about possibly unpopular homeschool policies established by the General Assembly, especially in an election year.
"Article IV, Illinois ConstitutionSection 1 Text of Section 1:
Legislature - Power and Structure
The legislative power is vested in a General Assembly consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives, elected by the electors from 59 Legislative Districts and 118 Representative Districts."
Best of luck in the fight against this bill.
I am so glad that both of my daughters are grown up and on their own. We don’t have to deal with this crap.
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