A Connecticut law protects kids from abusive homeschooling parents. Republicans opposed it.
A modest homeschooling oversight law aimed at preventing abuse has sparked outrage from conservatives and Christian advocacy groups
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Connecticut lawmakers recently passed a perfectly sensible bill to protect children who are homeschooled.
Naturally, Republicans are furious.
House Bill 5468 (now called Public Act No. 26-37) basically does two things: It requires all families to submit a form explaining how their kids will be educated (e.g. public school, private school, homeschooling, etc), and it says parents who want to homeschool their kids must not be “under investigation by the Department of Children and Families for an allegation of abuse or neglect.” If an adult in that home is under investigation, the approval for homeschooling will not be granted. (Students who are already being homeschooled will automatically be allowed to continue—or “grandfathered” in.)
It’s honestly the bare minimum a state should do to make sure students who are being homeschooled are in a safe environment. The same kind of background check, it must be said, also applies to public school teachers already.
That’s necessary given that there are documented situations where parents have removed their kids from public schools—and from any sort of adult oversight—only to abuse or neglect those children. (There was a disturbing case of that in Waterbury last year that inspired lawmakers to make these changes.) While most homeschooling parents have good intentions and aren’t abusive in any way, the question is whether there’s a way to protect kids in situations where they’re not in the presence of any other adults who are looking out for their best interests:
Sarah Eagan, executive director of the Center for Children’s Advocacy and the state’s former child advocate, said the issue is not homeschooling itself.
“The issue of concern in Connecticut, and what we know for a fact, is that there are families, and they’re not one-offs, that have used the pretense of homeschooling [and] the lack of any framework in our school districts to follow up, to hide their children from public view and abuse and neglect them. That is not a theory. It is not a possibility. It has happened over and over and over again,” Eagan said.
…
She referenced a report from the Office of the Child Advocate, where they did a random sample of several hundred children who were withdrawn from school under the stated purpose of homeschooling, and she said their findings proved to be concerning.
“More than 30% of those children had been chronically absent from school,” Eagan said. “About 8% of those children lived in families with multiple reports of child abuse or neglect, and most alarming, 30 of those children in the random sample were in homes where caregivers are on the central registry for child abuse or neglect.”
The fact is that once Connecticut parents say they’re homeschooling their kids, there’s no way for the government to check up on them… unless there’s a formal report of suspicion of abuse or neglect. If those kids are shielded from view, though, how would anyone know there’s reason to be concerned? This new law simply requires a background check on the parents. It doesn’t prevent abuse, but it could make sure the worst case scenarios are avoided.
So why are conservatives so upset about this? Why did every Republican vote against this bill at every stage?
Why did one right-wing commentator call it “Orwellian”? Why did a hate-group leader say it was an example of “the Left’s total disregard for the rights, responsibility, and authority that God has given to parents”? Why did one Republican lawmaker claim this bill would “destroy your way of life”? Why did the Wall Street Journal opinion page title an essay “Connecticut Goes After Homeschoolers”?
Because they see any kind of regulation on homeschooling as an attack on their religious freedom. Or their own freedom. Or the start of a slippery slope that takes away their right to miseducate their children through religious indoctrination if they so choose.
The CT Homeschool Network, which describes itself as a watchdog for homeschool freedom and privacy, called the legislation “wholly irresponsible” in a statement and argued homeschooling families are being used as “the scapegoat” for failures within DCF.
…
Sen. Rob Sampson (R) delivered a powerful closing statement: “Parents are not subjects—they are citizens—and they do not need the permission of this state government or anyone in this room to educate their own children.”
Such a broad attack on parental rights is blatantly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed the primacy of parents over the state when it comes to child-rearing decisions. If the proposal becomes law, parents should challenge it in court, where it deserves to be struck down.
These are ridiculous arguments, of course, because the bill isn’t targeting homeschoolers so much as it’s giving homeschooled kids a layer of protection that’s already available to the ones who attend public school. Nor is this bill preventing parents from homeschooling their kids. Nor is it treating every homeschooling parent “as a potential threat simply because some parents do wrong.”
At public schools, teachers and social workers are mandated reporters who can see if a child comes to school bruised or tells them they’re not being fed or are being abused. It doesn’t mean kids can’t slip through the cracks but there’s at least a system in place to help those they can catch. That system disappears when kids are homeschooled without oversight.
At this point, though, it’s not surprising that the same conservatives who have turned a blind eye to the Epstein Files and Donald Trump’s involvement in that scandal aren’t interested in making sure children are safe.
Just look at how Jim Mason, the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), argued against the bill back in April:
Connecticut lawmakers are considering a bill that would subject every family to a background check by the Department of Children and Families before beginning to homeschool.
Not after evidence of abuse. Not in response to a specific concern. But as a condition of carrying out a basic responsibility of parenthood—in this case choosing the best education method for your child. In effect, the state must clear you before you may begin to teach your own child.
The problem with his logic is that, if kids are shielded from the public, no one will see any evidence of abuse. No one can raise any specific concerns. Instead of supporting basic minimal oversight that would actually make it easier for homeschooling to be defined by decent parents, groups like HSLDA want to make it easier for abusers to get away with anything they want.
You can’t say “every case of child abuse is devastating and morally urgent,” as Mason does, while opposing legislation designed to prevent that abuse.
Mason also claims this law is in response to “the rare but real examples of abuse” but unfairly applies to everyone. But that’s how laws work! Some people drive recklessly, and that’s why we have traffic laws that apply to all drivers. To the argument that the law is “treating every parent as a potential criminal rather than respecting the presumption of innocence,” yes, that’s also how laws work! When I’m driving on the highway, a cop might be pointing a radar gun in my direction. Is it because I’m breaking the law? No! It’s because all drivers must, by definition, be treated as if they’re “potential criminals”; that’s not a problem unless you’re breaking the law.
It’s not like Mason is offering any solution that would weed out abusive parents—because, ultimately, he doesn’t give a shit if kids are abused as long as there are no regulations on homeschooling whatsoever. He’s willing to sacrifice kids in exchange for no regulations.
Mason also says students in public schools have been abused, too.
If lawmakers truly believed this level of government monitoring was necessary to protect children, they would apply the same standard to every family in Connecticut, including those with children in public schools, where abuse by teachers and staff has occurred for decades. They do not, because such sweeping surveillance would rightly be viewed as an outrageous violation of parental rights and personal liberty.
That’s bullshit. The reason we know about those stories is because there’s oversight. No one’s saying public schools are perfect. A teacher can pass a background check and still be abusive. But at least those people who commit a crime are caught and prevented from teaching again. The same can’t be said of parents who hide their kids away from public view.
It doesn’t matter how many stories there are about homeschooling-gone-wrong because groups like this are hell-bent on staying off the grid as much as possible, falsely believing that any kind of government intervention is inherently evil.
This is not new. Republican lawmakers are beholden to their Christian base and lobbying groups like HSLDA which put “parents’ rights” over the well-being of children.
Keep in mind we’re not even talking about the merits (or lack thereof) of homeschooling itself. That’s irrelevant to this story, but we’ve seen a similar response on that front, too. The Christian homeschooling advocates are unbothered and unmoved by stories from formerly homeschooled kids who say they weren’t prepared for life outside their home—and that their peers from public schools were leaps and bounds ahead of them, academically and emotionally, when they met them in college.
Homeschooling can work. There are religious and secular parents who do it very well. But there’s no way to tell if it’s working unless there’s a system in place to verify it. We’ve seen religious communities fail at this time and time again. By opposing any and all forms of regulation, groups like HSLDA have allowed abusive behavior, both physical and educational, to remain hidden from public view. It’s grossly irresponsible.
Thank goodness Democrats in Connecticut were willing to do something about it, because Republicans never will.
(Portions of this article were published earlier)
The party whose leadership — all the way up to the AG, the DOJ, the FBI, and POTUS — are actively breaking the law to protect pedophiles, is against a bill to protect children.
Colour me shocked (I think it's a shade of mauve).
I've seen home schooled children who were functionally illiterate and not remotely ready for college. The idea parents who are not remotely qualified to teach are always going to do a good job is absurd. At some point, children have rights too and no parent has the right to brainwash a child instead of educating them.