One hundred years ago, in the case of Pierce v. Society of Sisters, the Supreme Court struck down an Oregon law that required all children to attend public schools, affirming that parents had the right under the 14th Amendment to direct the upbringing and education of their children.
The Supreme Court wrote, “The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.”
This court decision launched the parental rights movement that has become controversial since the pandemic school lockdown.
The longstanding trust in public schools was shattered when parents were given an unprecedented window into what was happening in the classrooms. The most common response from parents was, “I had no idea!” Parents who had never known much about what students did all day were suddenly alarmed by the prevalence of radical dogmas.
As a result, many turned to homeschooling, which now has become the fastest growing type of education in the nation, across all demographics. In the black community, there has been a fivefold increase over a few short months of parents homeschooling their offspring.
As expected, the left is fighting back. Leftists have no intention of allowing “domestic terrorist” parents to leave the public school system because it would mean loss of government control over what students are taught and over shaping their worldview.
Hillary Clinton popularized the phrase “it takes a village to raise a child,” which signals that children are considered wards of the state, to be reared and educated as the state sees fit.
In Illinois, Democrats have filed a bill that, if passed, will expand vastly the control of government over the education of children. House Bill 2827, dubbed the Homeschool Bill, would bring government control of home schools as well as private and religious schools. Home schools and private schools would become de facto government schools.
Homeschool parents would be required to provide local and state education authorities annual reports with their children’s personal information, including gender identity, without any restrictions on what data would be mandated. If parents fail to file this home school paperwork properly or in a timely fashion, they could be charged with a Class C misdemeanor and spend up to 30 days in jail.
The question is, why do public school educators and politicians believe they need personal information on students and families not enrolled in public schools? The Supreme Court has already ruled that parents have the sole right to direct the education and upbringing of their children.
An “education portfolio” showing the curriculum along with student progress reports would be required as well.
If information about what is taught in home schools is so critical for oversight, then public school parents should require the actual curricula their children are taught. Despite state curriculum standards that determine the content taught in the classroom, radicalized teachers are using taxpayer-funded schools as platforms for their far-left propaganda at the expense of academic learning.
“Homeschool administrators” are required to have the equivalent of a high school diploma, while college-educated parents must show proof of their degree.
If the left believes that this is so important for parents to be able to successfully educate their children, why are children failing academically in public schools, where teachers are college-educated and hold teacher certificates?
The downward spiral of academic achievement did not begin with the school shutdown during the pandemic, as the public is being led to believe. Education has been sliding downward for years. Nationwide, one third of eighth-graders cannot read at grade level, while 39 percent cannot do math at grade level.
After spending 13 years in public classrooms that are costing American taxpayers billions of dollars, students are unprepared for college. The math department at Harvard, possibly America’s most elite university, is providing remedial math for freshmen who lack “foundational skills” in high school math basics, such as geometry, algebra, and quantitative reasoning.
Under the Homeschool Bill, nosy bureaucrats could barge into homes to surveil and file reports on students and parents. Parents should rise up against this blatant government violation of the Fourth Amendment right to privacy and the Fourteenth Amendment right for parental control over their children’s education.
This third-world style of government tyranny would not stop with homeschools. It would create pervasive oversight of private and religious schools as well, a violation of religious rights under the First Amendment.
The reporting requirements create “a registry of residents’ religions.” In the homeschool families’ education portfolios and in the religious schools reports, information about curricula and the religion to be taught would be required. Why does the government need to know what religious information is being taught in students’ homes and in religious schools?
Advocates of the homeschool bill claim that the lack of government-supervised control over home schools leaves children at risk of abuse by parents or guardians.
They ignore that safety is one of the main reasons parents are leaving public schools. In Texas, there is an epidemic of sexual abuse by local public school staff, both male and female. Across the nation, there is so much intimidation and isolation of white students that some have contemplated suicide and some have refused to return to the public school.
In another violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s right to due process, truancy officers could interrogate a child without due cause and without the presence of parents. Parents could be investigated and their children interrogated based on an anonymous report.
Tens of thousands of people have registered their opposition to this bill. Rather than making the necessary reforms to retain students in public schools, the left is doubling down to take control over private schooling.
Public education is on a collision course. Political shenanigans like the Homeschool Bill hasten that day when the public system will collapse under its own weight.
Carole Hornsby Haynes is an education policy and curriculum consultant, a historian, a classical pianist, and an entrepreneur. www.drcarolehhaynes.com
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