‘Homeschool Act’ Stalled in House, but Opponents Remain Vigilant for Potential Revival

Opponents of House Bill 2827 —dubbed the “Homeschool Act”—managed to keep it from the floor of the Illinois House for a vote before the April 11 deadline. But the bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. Terra Costa Howard (D-Glen Ellyn), remains committed to getting it passed.

“Our intention is to keep working the bill, keep making amendments as necessary, and continuing to meet with organizations who have strong opinions about it, that's what's important to do,” said Costa Howard.

HB2827 did not make the third reading to pass out of the chamber but remains live until the legislative session ends in May or June of 2026.

The bill requires parents or administrators to file a homeschool declaration form with the State Board of Education, notifying their local school district of their intent to homeschool a child.

Specifications of what the form will entail remain unclear but could require parents to report curriculums used in home schooling and other personal information like the child’s name, birthdate, and gender. It also requires homeschool administrators to have at least a high school diploma or equivalent to teach.

Costa Howard first introduced the bill after an in-depth ProPublica investigation revealed Illinois’ lack of regulation among homeschooled children. In some instances, state oversight led to cases of unreported child abuse, as the investigation reveals.

“First and foremost, [this bill] is to protect kids,” said Costa Howard. “We know that there are children who, when they have been pulled out of school, nobody sees that these kids have fallen through the cracks and they are not in front of mandated reporters. We want to make sure that that doesn't happen,” she said.

Illinois does not currently keep data on how many children are homeschooled in the state nor does it mandate a specific curriculum or testing protocol.

The “Homeschool Act” has generated historic opposition in the House session, with thousands of homeschool parents and religious-affiliated groups signing witness slips to oppose the bill from moving forward.

The legislative session in the Springfield capital is expected to end in May or June 2026. (Credit: Maggie Dougherty)

“This bill's provisions threaten families’ due process rights in multiple ways, which are very concerning,” said Mailee Smith, a staff attorney and senior director of labor policy at Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization tracking government accountability.

“It allows truancy officers to interrogate children without cause and without parental presence. It also allows these parents to be investigated and their children to be interviewed based on anonymous reports, and that's from the language of the bill itself,” said Smith.

According to the legislation, if homeschool parents or administrators fail to submit the required forms on time, a truancy officer may visit the home and meet with the child to determine whether an investigation may be warranted.

“This is a bill that could cause trauma to children on the whim of a government bureaucrat or an anonymous complaint or just a cantankerous neighbor who reports a family to the government,” said Smith.

Previous iterations of the bill included criminal penalties for noncompliance, including fines and jail time. The current version states that parents will be referred to the State Attorney's Office to determine the charges.

A critical component of the bill that remains unclear is how the state plans to contact families for noncompliance when it does not keep records of currently homeschooled children.

Rachel Mikottis runs an outdoor homeschool co-op called Free Haven Forest School in Mokena. She said the passing of a bill like this would greatly impact the school, which offers hands-on, educational experiences in nature.

“Current homeschool laws give us the freedom to [teach this way] because we don't want to operate in a building, that is not our goal,” said Mikottis. “The purpose of outdoor education is to get kids engaged in nature and to use nature as our classroom,” she said. The new homeschool requirements could subject schools like Free Haven Forest to adopt more standardized policies for learning.

Mikottis said one of her biggest concerns is how homeschoolers will be notified of the new registration requirements.

“What if I live in rural Illinois, and I'm a farmer—I homeschool my kids because the closest school is an hour away and no one notified me of this law? Now, a truancy officer can come by and [investigate] me. The criminalization of parents is definitely the worst part,” said Mikottis.

In response to how the state plans to notify parents, Costa Howard said administrators will “do their best” but did not specify a formal plan.

Despite other states' efforts to make homeschooling easier for families and a growing number of educational options available for children across the country, Illinois has increasingly pushed for more regulations, including requiring private schools to register annually with the state, which is currently optional.

Opponents of the bill argue the legislation attacks constitutional rights to educational freedom, with some families pursuing homeschooling to avoid the state’s public school challenges.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, National Education Surveys Program. “Parent and Family Involvement in Education: 2023” (accessed May 10, 2025).

“Illinois has a plethora of issues going on within its own school systems throughout the state, not least among them are proficiency levels,” said David Smith, a homeschool parent and executive director of the Illinois Family Institute.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), only 33% of Illinois students performed at or above proficiency in 2024.

Illinois is one of 41 states with 1 in 3 or fewer of its fourth-graders meeting reading standards.

“Can we blame parents for wanting better for their kids and leaving the system?” said Mikottis.

2024 data from the National Home Education Research Institute reported that home-educated students typically score 15 to 25 percentile points above that of public school students on standardized tests.

“Instead of focusing on fixing the issues in the school system, they're focusing on criminalizing parents for wanting to raise their kids better than what [public] schools have to offer,” she said.

Claire Murphy is a master’s student in the investigative specialization at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She is also a freelance journalist based in Chicago, IL.