# More Than Just a Homeschool Bill
HB2827 with Amendment, filed 3/13/2025
I have taken the time to read every word of both the original HB2827 and the ‘Amended’ HB2827 and will be summarizing some of my thoughts and responses below. I urge every parent, every citizen to read the Bill in its entirety as it is a chilling assault not just on homeschooling families, but on all who desire to remain free in America.
The proponents of the Bill, caught off guard by the level of opposition, (currently 31,000 opposed and 600 approved), postponed the hearing on the Bill (originally scheduled for March 12, 2025, and added an Amendment. The Amendment, filed on 3/13/2025, changes absolutely nothing in the Bill, in fact it is 15 pages longer.
Clearly, they’ve not met very many homeschoolers if they assume that they will be going away quietly. In a further attempt to thwart the legal and democratic process, new ‘witness slips’ in support or opposition to the new amended Bill will not become available likely until Tuesday- the day before the hearing, when they convene in Springfield again.
In the Amended Bill: P. 1 and 2 ‘explain’ that Homeschooling is the fastest growing form of education in the United States. Under a free market economy, a failing institution necessitates the need to create alternatives. This is exactly what has happened with the public school system. The dismally failing public system has created a flood of students who have fled from a dangerous and ineffective system and opted for a better system. And so, the State now seeks to ‘protect’ those children who are being homeschooled. Yet there is zero evidence to suggest that homeschooled students are being abused. In fact, homeschooled students do better by Every Measure (Alex Neuman, Illinois Homeschoolers Under attack) (https://libertysentinel.org/illinois-homeschoolers-under-attack/).
The Bill requires all homeschool parents to ‘register’ with the State Department of Education. Registration will include a myriad amount of information on the child and parent and must be updated every school year. Failure to comply may result in fines or jailtime. Certain information within the Homeschool Declaration form will be retained by the Department of Education for a period of up to 5 years.
A portfolio will be required to present ‘evidence’ of the child’s education across the subjects (the subject requirement is already a law and not necessary) and sampling, testing, etc., required to prove that the child is ‘performing’ up to the public school ‘standards’. Never mind that it has been unequivocally proven for years now that homeschoolers outperform their public schooled counterparts on average 15-20% higher on national tests. Additionally, 20-30% higher number of homeschoolers over public-schoolers will attend a higher education facility and will matriculate.
Under section 2-3.25, a “lawful school” is defined as any school registered under the State Board of Education and under the Homeschool Act. They further state that the “fundamental goal of the People of the State is the educational development of all persons to the limits of their capacities” and that “the educational development of every school student serves the public purposes of the State.”
As human beings, and citizens of a free society, the purpose of education is absolutely not in service of the State. The purpose of education is to grow ourselves to our fullest potential, to glorify God (not the State), and to serve our communities and mankind, Not the State.
Section 26-16 provides graduation ‘incentives’ for Illinois students under a myriad of ‘dropout’ reasons, among these citing a student who ‘was formerly enrolled in a homeschool program with less academic rigor than such graduate academic incentive (alternative) programs.” This is again simply laughable considering what we Know to be true about homeschool graduates.
Section 920 defines the limits of a “school” to be a public institution only and further requires a Student Permanent Record to be kept by the public school which ‘may’ (i.e. subjective to the school) include various information including disciplinary infractions, mental health and psychological information, intelligence testing, and ‘any other information of clear relevance to the education of the student’. (i.e. read any other information…). This same section defines a “parent” as “a natural parent or a person with the responsibility for the care and upbringing of the student.” Anyone who has had any association with adoptive families would know that this type of language (a ‘natural’ parent) is archaic and insulting.
Section 6 further contends that this information gathered by the State public school system, and kept for up to 5 years after graduation, is allowed to be disseminated to the following groups: the records custodian of another school, any school with “demonstratable educational or administrative interest in the student”, any person for the “purpose of research, statistical reporting or planning”, and to any Juvenile Court to which the student may be referred to.
A government or social service agency may at any time investigate a student’s compulsory attendance records or may require the student portfolio to be examined. And finally, the ‘sharing of student information must be voluntary and at the discretion of the school’. (i.e. not the parent). This information literally means that the Public School and not the Parent would have complete control over every student every day of the year.
The Amendment to HB2827 increased the Bill from 45 to 60 pages. It goes to unmitigated lengths to strip parents and their children of human rights in a democratic state. It threatens every citizen in every state- public, private, and homeschooled students, parents and all individuals who desire to live in a free society.
HB2827 tears at the very fabric of democracy in America, hijacking our children and placing them under the authority of the State. No society will remain free if such measures are allowed to be taken by the government, a government whose job in a democratic society is to protect its citizens and not to control them or to take them.
This is not just a fight for homeschool freedom or freedom in education, this is a fight for all human beings in America to be allowed to flourish and to remain free thinking individuals, not robots in service of the State.