Last year, Rep. Howard was quoted as calling for new regulations on homeschoolers. Her bill represents the most draconian attempt to roll back homeschool freedom in Illinois since Illinois home educators defeated S.B. 136 in 2011.

If H.B. 2827 is enacted into law, Illinois will become the first state in the nation to increase restrictions when it comes to the freedom to educate your children at home. Significantly, H.B. 2827 will overturn 75 years of Illinois Supreme Court jurisprudence establishing that home education is legal as a “private school”—as determined in the landmark case of People v. Levisen. The bill would replace the current legal status with a “homeschool” statute that requires homeschooling parents to:

• have certain credentials,
• file annually with the school district or face truancy charges,
• be subject to education reviews at the whim of local school districts.

If passed, the bill would open the door to further laws and regulations in coming years. The bill would also impact traditional brick-and-mortar private schools in Illinois, including sectarian and religious private schools.

We stand with ICHE and the Illinois homeschool and private school communities in complete opposition to H.B. 2827. As ICHE Executive Director Kirk Smith said, “We all must rise up together to send an unforgettable message to our legislators in Springfield that we hold our right to homeschool freely as sacred. This is the defining battle of this generation of homeschoolers here in Illinois.”

TAKE ACTION NOW

We urge you to call and email your Illinois state representative and Illinois state senator today and politely, but firmly, ask them to reject H.B. 2827. (Although the bill has not been introduced in the Senate, we believe this issue is important enough to contact both the House and Senate.) Your message can be as simple as the following:

“As a homeschooling parent, I respectfully urge you to oppose H.B. 2827. This 45-page bill will overturn 75 years of Illinois Supreme Court precedent protecting home education in the landmark case of People v. Levisen. It would require homeschooling families to file burdensome paperwork every year with the local school district or face truancy charges, potential prison time, or the removal of their children, and it would open the door to unnecessary and stressful educational reviews of families and children by local school districts. It would make it more difficult for families to seek special education services and lay the legal groundwork for homeschooling to be even more regulated in coming years.”

BACKGROUND

The following points reference the page numbers of H.B. 2827 in the official PDF version of the bill as introduced—highlighting the dangers of the bill:

• H.B. 2827 includes legislative findings (Section 10 on page 1) which are incorrect and biased against homeschool freedom, particularly when the evidence shows that homeschool students do well academically, homeschool students are not at higher risk of abuse and neglect, and when recent NAEP scores show that only a third of Illinois public school students are proficient.
• H.B. 2827 creates an annual notice (Section 20 on page 3), requiring families to file a “Homeschool Declaration Form” by August 1 of every year. This form will be created by the Illinois State Board of Education. The form will be filed by the family to the principal of the public school the child would attend or the family’s public school district.
• This “Homeschool Declaration Form” includes detailed information and can be expanded by the Illinois State Board of Education simply through regulation. According to page 3, line 24, “The Homeschool Declaration Form shall include, but not be limited to: the name, birth date, grade level, and home address of the child; the name, birth date, contact information, and home address of the homeschool administrator; and assurance that the homeschool administrator has received a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent.” Page 12, line 3 of H.B. 2827 also requires school districts to provide a report to the Illinois State Board of Education that includes the “grade level and gender identity the number of children receiving homeschooling that reside within a school district's boundaries,” so the “Homeschool Declaration Form” will also seek to determine this information. And even more concerning, Section 905 on page 12 states that the Illinois State Board of Education “may adopt any rules necessary to implement and administer this Act.” This would mean the Illinois State Board of Education is authorized to add more data collection to the annual form, or even place more restrictions on homeschooling families, without new legislation, simply because state education bureaucrats feel like doing so.
• Page 5, lines 7–14 require families to file the “Homeschool Declaration Form” annually by August 1, within 10 days of withdrawing their child from public school, and within 10 days of moving to a different school district.
• Page 5, lines 15-22 put the burden on the family if they accidently file the “Homeschool Declaration Form” with the wrong public school district.
• Page 6, lines 8-12 allows public school districts to retain information on homeschool students “in order to offer homeschooled children in the school district access to school programming, including, but not limited to, dental, vision, and hearing screenings, school newsletters, parent education programs, and field trips.”
• Section 25 (page 7) establishes criminal truancy penalties if a family does not file the “Homeschool Declaration Form.”
• Page 8, line 20 authorizes a public school district to demand, without any reason given, that a family produce an “educational portfolio as evidence that the homeschool administrator's homeschool program provides a course of instruction that is sufficient to satisfy the education requirements set forth in Sections 26-1 and 27-1 of the School Code and that is at least commensurate with the standards prescribed for public schools.” Our 43 years of experience in Illinois and across the 50 states tell us that public school districts will regularly require this of families, making this portfolio requirement a de facto annual requirement, if H.B. 2827 becomes law in Illinois.
• Section 30 on page 9 requires families to comply with all public school health, medical, and immunization reporting requirements if their children participate in any public school activities. Based on how this section is written, we anticipate an attempt will be made to extend this requirement to all homeschooling families as part of the annual “Homeschool Declaration Form” in subsequent legislation, if H.B. 2827 becomes law in Illinois.
• Section 35 on page 10 requires parents to have a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent, and to provide proof of this to the local school district if requested, making submission of a high school diploma by a home education parent a de facto requirement if H.B. 2827 becomes law in Illinois.
• Section 40 on page 11 requires the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to alert the local school district if DCFS simply “has had contact” with a homeschooling child. This then triggers an investigation, as described on page 11 line 12: “The regional office of education, intermediate service center, or school district has the power to conduct an investigation to see if a Homeschool Declaration Form under Section 20 has been submitted for the child and any other investigations as needed” (emphasis added).
• Page 12, line 14 repeals the law after 10 years, but this is for budget purposes, and we know that if H.B. 2827 is ever enacted into law, it will be next to impossible to ever repeal it. Future legislatures will expand it and reauthorize it.
• Impact on families with children with special needs: As discussed above, H.B. 2827 changes Illinois home education from legally being a type of private school to an institution operating under homeschool law. This will have significant impacts on families with children with special needs, those who have an IEP, or those who have a 504 plan. This is because federal IDEA law applies to public and private schools for families who desire services through the local school district, but not to homeschools. We are exploring just how much of an impact H.B. 2827 will have on families like this. We expect H.B. 2827 will make it significantly harder, if not impossible, for families who desire special education services through their local public school to receive such services.
• H.B. 2827 will also create new regulations on traditional brick-and-mortar private schools, including religious and sectarian private schools. Page 23, line 17 states “beginning on August 1, 2026, all non-public elementary and secondary schools in the State of Illinois shall register with the State Board of Education on an annual basis.” (emphasis added) And line 5 on page 24 requires a high school diploma for all “individuals in the [private or non-public] school assigned to a teaching or administrative position...” Page 24, line 8 also requires massive data collection and reporting on the part of traditional brick-and-mortar private schools.

We encourage you to review two podcasts that HSLDA President Jim Mason recorded with ICHE President Jeff Lewis last year, discussing the motivation behind the introduction of H.B. 2827. At the time these podcasts were recorded, we did not have specific legislative language, but we knew this day was coming. You may listen to these two podcasts here and here.

Finally, we will not be able to defeat H.B. 2827 without your energy and passion for freedom. We encourage you to share this information with your homeschooling and private schooling friends and family, and with all freedom-loving Illinois citizens, and urge them to contact their state legislators. Together, we can defeat H.B. 2827 and protect our precious liberties for generations to come.