Why authors of the Homeschool Act are still confident after bill stalls in Illinois House

• The bill missed a procedural deadline on April 11 and the bill’s main sponsor has requested an extension.
• Since the controversial bill has been introduced, legislators have reportedly received strong opposition and even a death threat.

A bill that would add rules and regulations to homeschooling families as well as private schools in Illinois has possibly hit a roadblock.

The bill missed a procedural deadline on April 11 for non-budget bills to clear their chamber of origin, Capitol News Illinois reported. The bill’s main sponsor, State Rep. Terra Costa Howard, D-Glen Ellyn, has requested an extension.

After a third reading and short debate, the legislation was re-referred to Rules Committee. In other words, the intention of the legislators may be to buy more time to refine the bill with amendments, or to simply re-file it next year.

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"We wanted to continue to work on the bill and continue to refine the language and everything in it," State Rep. Michelle Mussman, D-Schaumburg, told The State Journal-Register. She added that the bill "is very much alive, and we are actively soliciting feedback."

Rep. Mussman, who is a co-sponsor of the bill, said the issue is a large one, and that is "obviously a very emotional issue for people on both sides. And a lot of topics like that, they take time. They take time to work through the important details legislatively, and they take time for people to learn about them and read about them and get back to us with their thoughts. It’s that public and advocacy contribution that generally helps you think through angles you might not have thought of before, which can help you ultimately construct a bigger bill," she said.

What would the bill have done?

The bill would require homeschooling families as well as private schools to provide information to the state like the names of enrolled students. Further, parents or guardians aiming to homeschool a student would need a high school diploma or a recognized equivalent.

Dubbed the Homeschool Act, the legislation would require the Illinois State Board of Education to create a “Homeschool Declaration Form” that homeschool administrators would need to fill out to inform their area public school or school district that the child is enrolled in a homeschool program.

Students and families who do not submit the form would face penalties including truancies.

More: What is the Homeschool Act and why are some Illinois parents against it?

The bill also would require all private elementary and secondary schools to register with the state and submit student information upon request, according to Capitol News Illinois.

The bill had made initial progress when a House Committee advanced it on March 26 after hours of debate in a packed hearing room.

Opposition and a death threat

Rep. Costa Howard has reportedly received hostile calls and emails since introducing the bill, including a letter she perceived as a death threat.

Homeschool families, homeschool advocates and even religious groups were among the thousands of opponents who traveled to the state capitol in March where they packed the committee room and extended into the hallways and the Capitol Rotunda.

What was the motivation for the bill?

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"We want to make sure that kids are not experiencing educational neglect, but we also know that there is evidence for a small but concerning subset of parents that not only are they neglecting their child’s education – they may also authentically be neglecting their children," Rep. Mussman said.

She added that legislation could be another way of possibly identifying a child who needs help and then getting them that help.

Tom Ackerman covers breaking news and trending news along with general news for the Springfield State Journal-Register. He can be reached at tackerman@gannett.com.