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Among the many freedom-busting bills Connecticut Democrats are poised to pass during their legislative session is one that would require parents to be reported to the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) and possibly the Department of Children and Families (DCF) if they withdraw their child from a government school for the purpose of homeschooling.
As the Hartford Courant recently reported, the Democrats, who hold a supermajority in the state legislature, are apparently dismissing the outrage of the thousands of citizens who arrived at the capitol building to testify against the education bill.
“Democrats … said they are working to make children safer after two high-profile child abuse cases in Waterbury and New Britain in which the children had reportedly been withdrawn from public schools,” the Courant reported.
Gov. Ned Lamont (D) acknowledged the bill was launched because “[w]e’ve had a couple of terrible, isolated instances over the last few months, and if we had some way to just check on those kids on a regular basis, they’d be alive today.”
“[W]e don’t want anybody dropping through the cracks,” he said, though, as many have pointed out, the “cracks” appear to be within the state’s DCF office itself.
The Courant reported Thursday, however, that two Democrats on the Education Committee – both members of the Black and Hispanic Caucus – voted against their party on the bill.
State Rep. Antonio Felipe (D-Bridgeport) said homeschooling families of color expressed dismay to the caucus about the bill, and that he himself is concerned about how it’s been politicized.
Additionally, State Rep. Treneé McGee (D-West Haven), the Courant continued, “repeatedly warned against political polarization and also voted against the bill, saying she had met with homeschoolers and found the impact broad.”
“This job, it’s hard. It is hard,” McGee said. “We don’t all vote yes for the same reason and we don’t all vote no for the same reasons. My reason for not supporting this bill is different than my colleagues’ across the aisle and some things may intersect.”
According to the news report, McGee explained she was disturbed that the tragedies of the deceased children have been weaponized.
“And she said she believes CSDE and DCF are largely responsible for the tragedies but a strong bill to enact reform within them is being advanced in Children’s Committee, of which she is also a member,” the Courant noted.
“Black and brown families, they’re homeschooling,” McGee said, providing the statistic that one in five homeschooling families is black or brown.
“The families that are withdrawing their children from West Haven school system, they’re black and brown,” she added. “If schools are not teaching about racism, why would a black and brown parent want to be equivalent to that?”
McGee referred to the bill’s requirement that homeschooled children “receive equivalent instruction in the studies taught in the public schools” – a provision that would eliminate much of classical curricula and flexible grade levels from homeschooling, while it ushers in instruction on topics that have led parents to favor homeschooling and microschools in the first place.
The bill passed out of committee, 26-20, and has now been sent to the state House and Senate for a vote. According to the Courant, the version that passed says the bill:
would require families to appear in person to withdraw children from public school, file annual forms, present proof of educational progress, keep records for three years, and prohibit withdrawal if a parent is on a child abuse registry, with requirements phased in starting in 2028-29.
Interestingly, the state’s own education commissioner pointed out the lack of forethought into the potential law’s implementation.
“Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker said that 1,800 children left public schools for homeschooling in the last fiscal year, along with another 3,700 who departed public schools to attend private schools,” the Courant reported. “The plan would involve one-time costs of about $150,000, plus ongoing costs of about $400,000 per year — neither of which have been included in Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposed budget of $28.7 billion for the fiscal year that starts on July 1.”
State Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich), a candidate for governor, posted to social media Wednesday that, while in committee, the education bill “passed by a very narrow vote only after several Democrats changed their vote after the cameras turned off. The bill will now advance forward to the House of Representatives for a full vote.”
According to the Courant, Rep. Jennifer Leeper (D-Fairfield), co-chair of the Education Committee, said Democrats “added clarifying language” to the bill after negotiating with state agencies and government school districts about funding.
Leeper said the bill was revised to say that, when a report is made to the Department of Education upon the request for withdrawal, it “is not a report for purposes of suspicion of neglect or abuse. So this is not a report. DCF does not maintain any records on this.”
Leeper’s statement, however, appears to negate what Democrats have claimed is the purpose of the bill.
State Sen. Heather Somers (R-Griswold) said the bill undermines the very purpose of homeschooling.
“Families under this bill would no longer really be able to freely choose how they want to homeschool because they’re pushed into a compliance structure, and the whole idea of homeschooling is to give you the flexibility that you may want to teach your children in a nontraditional way,” she said.
“Every single homeschooler that I have had the privilege of meeting – their kids are smarter, they’re graduating early from high school, some of them are taking college courses or getting two years of college before they turn 18,” Somers added, noting as well how the bill associates homeschooling families with suspicion of abuse.
“I applaud the goal of this committee to try to protect children but I do not see that as an outcome of this particular bill,” she said. “I think this bill treats homeschool families like potential bad actors. … It really replaces the presumption of parental competence with mandatory reporting, annual filings, academic demonstration, district reviews and DCF screening perhaps with withdrawal.”
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