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A national homeschool advocacy group has asked the U.S. Department of Education to scrutinize a new Connecticut law that imposes mandatory background checks by the state child protection agency on all parents who choose to homeschool their child.
The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) alleges the new law, signed by Gov. Ned Lamont (D) on May 26, violates the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which safeguards the privacy of student education records.
The group contends that the law violates FERPA by requiring public school officials to reveal homeschooling families’ personal information to the Department of Children and Families (DCF) without parental consent.
Senior Counsel at HSLDA Will Estrada told the Hartford Courant that the U.S. Education Department has seen his organization’s complaint and is “taking it seriously.”
“There’s not a single state in the nation that says before a child can leave the public school, we’re going to send all the personal, identifiable information from the child and the family over and run a background check,” Estrada added.
Following Lamont’s signing of the bill, HSLDA asserted the law 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,” the homeschool advocacy group posted to Facebook to its members nationwide.
“Not after evidence of abuse. Not in response to a specific concern. But as a condition of carrying out a basic responsibility of parenthood—choosing the best education for your child.”
A violation of FERPA, Estrada noted to the Courant, risks a loss of millions in federal funding for education in Connecticut.
But both Lamont’s office and State Rep. Jennifer Leeper (D-Fairfield), co-chair of the Education Committee, say the law was necessary to prevent child abuse.
Cathryn Vaulman, director of communications for the governor, told the Courant that “[p]rior to the passage of this bill, Connecticut was one of very few states in the country with virtually no laws regarding the protection of children who are outside the public school system.”
In defense of the law, Leeper cited several recent examples within Connecticut of horrific child abuse in homes. The same tragic situations have been frequently mentioned by the law’s proponents – even though DCF already had extensive involvement in those families and the children involved remained in their homes anyway.
Leeper reportedly called the law “a modest step to keep children from experiencing the horrific abuse we’ve unfortunately seen here” and said “we as a state believe that children deserve to be protected from being exited from school to be further isolated in a home where there is a reasonable suspicion of child neglect or abuse.”
In May, however, Republican candidate for governor State Sen. Ryan Fazio (Greenwich) – who supports parents’ right to direct the education of their children – observed the Lamont administration and Democrats in the state legislature appear to have different priorities when child abuse is committed by illegal aliens seeking sanctuary in Connecticut.
In the video clip below, Fazio told the story of Liam Rivera, “a two-year-old boy, a citizen of Stamford, Connecticut, beat to death by his father, an illegal immigrant, previously arrested for assaulting that young boy, protected by Ned Lamont’s sanctuary state law.”
This week Fazio’s campaign highlighted more data revealing the state of Connecticut’s shocking record of keeping vulnerable children safe on Democrats’ watch.
“Basic safety procedures crumbled at the Department of Children and Families as 28 children under agency watch died from January 2025 to May 2026,” Ryan Fazio for Governor posted to social media. “These are not isolated tragedies, but a sad and systematic failure under Gov. Lamont.”
Homeschooling mom Nicole “Coco” Roscoe, a Republican running for Connecticut state representative in District 6 (Hartford), told Lumen-News she supports HSLDA “in taking this important first step in requesting a federal review of Connecticut’s new homeschooling law.”
“As a homeschooling mom, I believe every child deserves to be safe, whether they’re educated in a public school, private school or at home,” Roscoe continued. “If the federal government is taking a closer look at protecting children in our schools, it’s also appropriate to review whether Connecticut’s new homeschooling law will actually protect children while respecting the rights and privacy of families. Those goals should go hand in hand.”
In sharp contrast to Connecticut Democrats’ claim that the new law is necessary to prevent child abuse in homes, the Trump Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced last week a “crack down” on sexual predators in K-12 public schools across the nation.
Concerned about the “troubling and recurring pattern” in the nation’s schools of “credible reports of sexual abuse and harassment by adults in positions of authority going uninvestigated or of suspected offenders being transferred to new schools or roles in the district,” the department denounced school administrators who protect suspected child abusers by “passing the trash.”
While Connecticut regresses in the areas of education freedom and parental rights, one New England state appears to be moving in a positive direction.
On July 10, just six weeks after Lamont signed what HSLDA called “the first regression of homeschool freedom in the modern homeschool movement,’ Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) of New Hampshire signed a bill that actually frees up homeschooling.
Appropriately called the Home Education Freedom Act, the new law “significantly expands homeschool freedom in New Hampshire by reducing unnecessary government regulation while preserving clear statutory recognition of home education,” cites HSLDA, adding that the legislation “also continues to uphold a parent’s right to establish and operate a home education program.”
As HSLDA details, the New Hampshire law also eliminates mandatory homeschool notification requirements; removes mandatory annual evaluation and recordkeeping requirements; preserves parents’ ability to voluntarily maintain records, transcripts, and certificates of completion; continues to recognize home education as a lawful educational pathway; and places greater trust in parents while maintaining a clear legal framework for home education.
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Silly people, “It takes a village”.
Thank you- CT’s Education System is appalling!