The Barrington Hills Observer

House Bill 2827 would regulate both homeschool families and private schools in Illinois. Its extensive provisions have generated historic opposition. Here are nine things you should know about how it will impact education, privacy and your family.

By Mailee Smith | Illinois Policy Institute

A bill that would regulate the families of nonpublic school students has generated historic opposition in the Illinois General Assembly.

House Bill 2827, filed by state Rep. Terra Costa Howard, D-Lombard, would impose extensive regulations on homeschooling and private schools.

It’s been downplayed as simply filling out a form, but the “Homeschool Act” involves much more. Here are nine things you should know about HB 2827:

1. The homeschool regulation creates a child registry, including children’s gender.
2. Failing to file the form carries jail time.
3. An “education portfolio” can be demanded at any time from homeschool families, allowing government abuse of power.
4. The homeschool regulation requires more of homeschool administrators than the state does of public schools.
5. The bill isn’t clear on how the regulate on would be enforced, creating substantial legal questions.
6. The regulations would eat into education funding or other resources.
7. The bill also regulates private schools.
8. The bill creates a registry of residents’ religions.
9. The bill has generated historic opposition.

You can tell your lawmaker to vote “no” on HB 2827 by using our Take Action tool.

1) The homeschool regulation creates a child registry, including children’s gender

The current version of HB 2827 requires homeschool families to file a “homeschool declaration form” each year with their local school district. But it’s much more than a simple form.

Instead, it mandates the reporting of personal information including, at a minimum, the child’s name, birthdate, grade level and home address, as well as the name, birth date, contact information and home address of the homeschool administrator.

But there is no limit on what information could be required on the form. The Illinois State Board of Education is simply tasked with creating the form and could require any information it wants. Other provisions in the bill indicate additional information will be required for government authorities to generate required annual reports.

For example, each year the regional office of education must create an annual report that includes the total count of homeschooling students broken down by grade level and gender. While a child’s gender is not required in the initial provision outlining the minimum requirements in the form, the form is clearly intended to gather more than just the information explicitly mentioned in the bill. And the state board of education is given the extensive authority to “adopt any rules necessary” to implement and administer the act.

With name, age, grade, address and gender already included, there’s no reason to think other questions – such as race, ethnicity or other affiliations – would not also be included.

There is no provision allowing parents to opt out of having their children and their personal information tracked by state and local authorities.

Read much more here.