* We had a discussion about Sen. Ed Maloney’s home schooling bill, which would require that all home schooled students be registered with the state board of education. A subject matter only hearing was held yesterday. Sen. Maloney withdrew his bill to make changes based on the testimony. Hundreds of home schoolers showed up…
As a crowd of hundreds sang “God Bless America'’ and “Amazing Grace'’ outside the hearing room, the committee heard “subject matter'’ testimony, meaning there would be no vote on legislation.
Maloney, in testimony, expressed surprise at the outrage over the bill. “The majority of parents do an exemplary job'’ at homeschooling, he said. He said the concern is those who use their right to homeschool as merely an excuse to let their kids stay out of school.
In the crowd was Larry Wright of Harvard, Ill., who said his reasons for homeschooling his kids were both religious and philosophocal. “I want to raise them the way I think they should go,” he said. “I’m responsible for my kids, not the state.”
He said he understands the bill would require just registration, not restrictions, but that it’s still “intrusive and unnecessary.'’ “They’re trying to fix something that’s not broken,” he said.
While the bill was not up for a vote at the Senate Education Committee, members heard testimony from professional educators and home-school parents. One, James McDonald of Mapleton, pointed out Illinois is the home of perhaps the most accomplished home-schooler of all - Abraham Lincoln. McDonald said the government was not breathing down young Abe’s neck, asking, “Did you register?”
Bill Reynolds, a truant officer in Monroe and Randolph Counties, says too often parents hide behind the words “home school” when really their families are engaged in “no school.”
Janet Hasselbring, of Braidwood, home schools her three children, and arrived early Tuesday morning to voice her opposition.
“The government does not need to put more controls in place,” said Hasselbring, who was among a throng of protesters waiting to enter the Capital. “This bill will add expenditures — to register this many home-schoolers in the state — in an already failing budget.
Michael McCreery, executive director of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, said that most parents who came out on Tuesday were the “cream of the crop,” and that he’s more worried about the ones who didn’t show up.
“We can point to programs. We can point to home schooling. We can point to those areas that are available to them. We can assist. We cannot assist without knowledge of their existence,” McCreery said.
“The great majority of parents do an exemplary job of educating their children,” Maloney said. “Some even offered standardized test results as proof that their children do better but ironically would not want test results to be mandatory.”
Maloney said he was not concerned about parents who were doing well but he wanted to find a way to identify parents who were not committed to educating their children at home.
Even though parents are not required to register their home-schooled children, they may choose to do so with their local school boards.
Illinois parents also are required, under current law, to teach the same core requirements, such as language arts, math and science, that students of corresponding age in public schools are taught.
