RED ALERT Illinois – This Homeschool Bill Will Impact You!

RED ALERT Illinois – This Homeschool Bill Will Impact You!

The Illinois General Assembly has a bill that is going to impact your homeschool if it is approved. This is HUGE!!! Get involved and GET INVOLVED NOW!  See the synopsis below.

UPDATE:  ICHE is reporting that the sponsor dropped the bill but the status page for the bill is showing that it has been referred to the  Rules Committee. 

Check the status by clicking here.

Synoposis

This Bill Introduced, by Rep. Monica Bristow, Amends the School Code. Provides that, after a home-schooling registration form is submitted, the State Board of Education must request a Child Protective Service Unit of the Department of Children and Family Services to investigate the home in which the home schooling will occur to ensure there is no suspected child abuse or neglect in the home. Provides that after the investigation by the Child Protective Service Unit is complete, the State Board must notify the school district in which the home is located that the child is being home-schooled. Provides that once every 2 school years, the State Board must inspect the academic records of a registered home-school student. Amends the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act to require a Child Protective Service Unit to investigate the home of a child upon a request from the State Board. Effective immediately.

#ILLINOIS #Homeschoolers, You have a Red Alert! #Homeschool legislation has been introduced! #getinvolved

Full Bill

HB3560 LRB101 07141 AXK 52179 b
1		AN ACT concerning education.
2		Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3		represented in the General Assembly:
4		Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section
5		2-3.176 as follows:
6		(105 ILCS 5/2-3.176 new)
7		Sec. 2-3.176. Home-schooling registration; requirements.
8		(a) After a home-schooling registration form is submitted,
9		the State Board of Education must request a Child Protective
10		Service Unit of the Department of Children and Family Services
11		under Section 7.2 of the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting
12		Act to investigate the home in which the home schooling will
13		occur to ensure there is no suspected child abuse or neglect in
14		the home. After the investigation by the Child Protective
15		Service Unit is complete, the State Board must notify the
16		school district in which the home is located that the child is
17		being home-schooled.
18		(b) Once every 2 school years, the State Board must inspect
19		the academic records of a registered home-school student.
20		Section 10. The Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act is
21		amended by changing Section 7.2 as follows:

HB3560 – 2 – LRB101 07141 AXK 52179 b
1		(325 ILCS 5/7.2)  (from Ch. 23, par. 2057.2)
2		Sec. 7.2. The Department shall establish a Child Protective
3		Service Unit within each geographic region as designated by the
4		Director of the Department. The Child Protective Service Unit
5		shall perform those functions assigned by this Act to it and
6		only such others that would further the purposes of this Act.
7		It shall have a sufficient staff of qualified personnel to
8		fulfill the purpose of this Act and be organized in such a way
9		as to maximize the continuity of responsibility, care and
10		service of the individual workers toward the individual
11		children and families.
12		The Child Protective Service Unit shall designate members
13		of each unit to receive specialty training to serve as special
14		consultants to unit staff and the public in the areas of child
15		sexual abuse, child deaths and injuries, and out-of-home
16		investigations.
17		If a child protective investigator of a Child Protective
18		Service Unit is unable to obtain assistance from other unit
19		members when responding to a high-risk report of child abuse or
20		neglect and the child protective investigator has a reasonable
21		belief or suspicion that a subject named in the report has the
22		potential for violence, the child protective investigator may
23		request assistance from local law enforcement officers to be
24		provided at a mutually available time. Law enforcement officers
25		shall, upon request, make all reasonable efforts to assist the
26		child protective investigator in receiving law enforcement

HB3560 – 3 – LRB101 07141 AXK 52179 b
1		assistance from any other police jurisdiction that is outside
2		the accompanying officers' primary jurisdiction.
3		Upon receiving a request under Section 2-3.176 of the
4		School Code, a Child Protective Service Unit must investigate
5		the home of a child whose parent or guardian has submitted a
6		home-schooling registration form with the State Board of
7		Education to ensure there is no suspected child abuse or
8		neglect in the home.
9		(Source: P.A. 100-625, eff. 7-20-18.)
10		Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
11		becoming law.

Get Involved

We encourage you to contact your state representatives and be sure they know how you feel about this proposed Illinois Homeschool Legislation. Contact your legislators! Do not wait until it’s too late!

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp…

How to locate/contact your State Legislators 
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/maps/illinois-house/

You can also register at ilga.gov and watch bill number HB3560 . There will be a point in time when it goes to hearing and you can fill out a “witness slip” online. You’ll want to click “opposed.” It is something the public can do…. it does help. Let your family and friends know too!

California recently had a very similar situation and homeschoolers got involved and has squashed the proposed legislation. You can read about it here.

Homeschool Lesson

It is never too early to teach your children how the legislative process works in America. It is never too early for your children to see you active and involved in a cause you believe in. I highly recommend you take this opportunity to dive into a discussion about civics.

Do you remember School House Rocks? I STILL remember this video! It is a great place to start, even for older students.

 

Check out this book on Amazon. It is  that you might want to review.

And if you like to make learning fun and your older children are interested, we actually have this game and love it. It is called Constitution Quest.

You can find lesson plans for Middle and High School Students. Click here.

And finally Brain Pop has some fun interactive games to help teach this subject!!