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Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed HB 5468 into law on May 26 – a day that national homeschooling advocacy organization HSLDA asserts now marks “a notable turning point in homeschool freedom.”
“HB 5468 profoundly transforms Connecticut from a state where parents had significant freedom, to the only state that imposes mandatory background checks by DCFS on every parent before they can homeschool,” HSLDA posted to Facebook to its members nationwide.
“Not after evidence of abuse. Not in response to a specific concern,” the group continued. “But as a condition of carrying out a basic responsibility of parenthood—choosing the best education for your child.”
The national legal advocate also warned that the effects of the alarming anti-freedom bill – passed by a Democratic supermajority even after thousands of parents of all political views demonstrated against it at the state capitol – could be felt in other states with like-minded lawmakers eager to flex their muscles against parental rights and add “layers of regulation, restriction and bureaucracy to homeschooling families.”
During debate on the bill, Education Committee Co-Chair State Sen. Douglas McCrory (D-Hartford) defended it by likening the requirement of a Department of Children and Families (DCF) background check on all parents who wish to homeschool to the background check required on all teachers in government schools.
If the parents are the teachers, the same standard should hold in order to “know that the adults who are responsible for educating these children do not have a history of harming children,” he said.
Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) dismissed parents’ concerns over the legislation.
“It seems that opponents of this bill are engaging in an ideological debate over issues and concerns that are not reflected in this bill at all,” Looney said, claiming, “This is a very minimal degree of regulation” and that “our state lags behind most other states in protection of children and making sure that children who are removed from the public school setting are protected.”
But HSLDA observed that the signing of HB 5468 “marks the first regression of homeschool freedom in the modern homeschool movement.”
Despite this significant setback for parental rights, the organization still asserts that “the battle is not over.”
Within the state, while Lamont attempts to snag a third term for governor this November, Republican gubernatorial nominee State Sen. Ryan Fazio says he will defend the rights of all those parents who protested against the bill.
“I am proud to stand with tens of thousands of families across our state to defend educational choice and parental rights,” Fazio said as he joined with families who traveled to Hartford, and then stayed until the early morning hours to hear every family testify against the legislation.
Referring to the several tragic cases of child abuse that Lamont and Democrats used to justify their bill, Fazio said “[o]ur state government and DCF continue to fail to deliver the services that are their responsibility at the standard that we all hold in Connecticut, yet they want more power over the private school and home school decisions of families.”
“Our state government should focus on protecting the safety of those actually in danger and delivering a great caliber of public education rather than taking more power,” he asserted.
HSLDA explained it will continue to work with its allies in Connecticut “to pursue appropriate legal action now that it has been signed into law.”
The advocacy group recalled to its members that, over 40 years ago, when the organization was founded, homeschooling was illegal in most of the United States.
“Parents were regularly threatened with arrest, and children were threatened with removal from the safety of their homes and forced enrollment in public schools,” HSLDA noted, adding that Lamont’s signature on HB 5468 is “a sober reminder that freedom cannot be taken for granted.”
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Maybe this will wake homeschoolers up to the fact that you can't trust election counts that you can't see. Homeschoolers when awake are a powerful force.