IL House Bill Threatening Jail Time for Homeschool Parents Advances Through Committee

/EIN News/ -- Springfield, IL, March 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), the oldest and largest legal advocacy group for homeschooling, is sounding the alarm after the Illinois House of Representative's Education Policy Committee voted 8-4 this week to advance House Bill 2827, which would significantly curtail homeschool freedom in the state.

House Bill 2827 mandates expansive regulatory requirements for homeschool families, including documentation of academic qualifications of parents, expanded student portfolio reporting and the possibility for parents to be called into a public education office for in-person interviews. The new regulations impose severe penalties– even a late-filed report carries the potential for jail-time for parents.

“House Bill 2827 grants sweeping regulatory authority over homeschool families to unelected bureaucrats enforced with criminal penalties under the truancy code. Not a single state—even some of the most highly regulated in the United States—have such penalties for homeschool parents,” said Will Estrada, Senior Counsel at HSLDA. “This could be one of the most significant threats to homeschool freedom in our generation.”

It is not just parents who will feel the weight of House Bill 2827’s regulatory burden. These regulations dramatically increase the bureaucratic load on already overburdened school administrators and their already inadequate budgets.

Ahead of the committee vote, thousands of homeschool families arrived at the state capitol on Thursday to voice their opposition to the bill. On the legislature’s website, almost 50,000 people filed witness slips in opposition, while around 400 filed in favor of the bill. After hearing hours of testimony, including from HSLDA Senior Counsel Will Estrada, the House Education Policy Committee proceeded to vote 8-4 to advance the bill out of committee.

HSLDA President Jim Mason warns that the legislation in Illinois is part of an alarming trend across the country that threatens the future of homeschool freedom. “What’s happening in Illinois may be the harbinger of a threat that could come to your state soon,” said Mason. “Legislators in Springfield are moving toward enacting major restrictions on homeschooling that run counter to the freedom and right that every parent has to make decisions that are best for their individual child.”

Read more about House Bill 2827 at: https://hslda.org/post/illinois-house-bill-2827-expanded-government-oversight-severe-penalties

About HSLDA
Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is America’s largest and oldest national homeschool advocacy group. Founded in 1983 with the mission to make homeschooling possible for all families, the organization has helped empower millions of homeschooling parents and students. As a membership organization for families homeschooling their children, HSLDA provides a myriad of resources from educational consultants to personalized legal advice through every step of their homeschool journey. Learn more about HSLDA at https://hslda.org/

Titus Prude
                    HSLDA
                    540-338-8624
                    titusp@hslda.org