(The Lion) — A controversial bill in Illinois is showcasing the state’s slide away from educational freedom, a taxpayer-advocacy organization warns.

“Lawmakers and teachers unions are seeking to regulate homeschooling through House Bill 2827, dubbed the ‘Homeschool Act,’” writes Mailee Smith, senior director of labor policy at the Illinois Policy Institute.

“But HB 2827 isn’t just an attack on homeschoolers – it’s another effort to limit families’ educational options to only the public school mediocrity teachers unions produce.”

Smith, a staff attorney, pointed to hefty contributions since 2010 supporting lawmakers who drafted the Homeschool Act and made other cuts to school choice programs.

“Money speaks louder than words,” she noted, citing at least $3.5 million in teacher unions’ donations to legislators favoring HB 2827. “Teachers unions don’t have the best interest of students at heart, and they are pouring money into political campaigns to ensure parents don’t have the best educational options for their children.”

Moving against trend of ‘universal school choice’

School choice programs have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years – making 2023 known as “the year of universal school choice,” Smith writes.

“Seven states enacted new private-school choice programs and 11 states expanded existing programs. This resulted in access to private-school choice programs for around 20 million students nationwide.

“That trend continued in 2024, with an additional 15 states enacting or expanding programs.”

However, the Prairie State rejected this pathway by eliminating its tax credit scholarship program for low-income students at the end of 2023.

“Despite voter support for the program, Illinois lawmakers listened to teachers’ unions and refused to extend the Invest in Kids tax-credit scholarship program,” Smith lamented, “taking away scholarships from more than 15,000 low-income students.”

Approximately $1.5 million in donations from teachers’ unions flowed to legislators in the five months before the program was cut, according to Smith.

Homeschooling the ‘fastest-growing form of education’ nationwide

Likewise, the state is also expressing concerns over the national increase in homeschooling – another educational option available to parents dissatisfied with public-school outcomes.

“Homeschooling has become the fastest-growing form of education in the U.S., and states are making it easier for parents to choose this option,” Smith explains.

Wyoming and Ohio provide examples of recent legislation supporting homeschoolers.

As previously reported by The Lion, House Bill 46 or the Homeschool Freedom Act rescinded previous requirements for families to notify Wyoming’s government before starting to homeschool.

“Parental rights are reflected and upheld in the passage of this bill, and Wyoming joins 11 other states that require no notice of intent to homeschool,” said Homeschool Wyoming President Brenna Lowry at the time the bill was signed into law. “This is an historic moment as Wyoming is the first state in our nation’s history to roll back homeschool regulations.”

Ohio also eased legislative regulations on homeschoolers in 2023, according to Smith.

“The state previously had required families to submit multiple forms and a textbook list. It also forced them to utilize standardized tests and report scores to the district. The new law requires a simple letter indicating the intent to homeschool and nothing more.”

Opposing ‘self-determination and family-oriented education’

However, Illinois’ Homeschool Act would create additional restrictions on families choosing this educational option.

“The current version of the bill requires onerous paperwork, including the reporting of personal information of children and lists of curriculums,” Smith notes. “It would also allow truancy officers to separate children from their families for interviews without ‘cause’ and allows families to be investigated based on anonymous reports.”

Such measures provide “another dangerous pathway to criminalize loving black parents,” argues Aziza Butler – a former Chicago Public Schools teacher and homeschool mom.

“Homeschooling has become the fastest-growing educational choice among black parents nationwide, driven by the courageous desire to give their children a safer, more nurturing and academically enriching environment than what they’ve experienced in traditional schools,” she wrote.

“This legislation deeply undermines self-determination and family-oriented education – the very ideals that make homeschooling so empowering and which hold the key to success even for the public system.”