The state legislature’s Appropriations Committee advanced a priority bill Monday without a key provision on homeschooling, two weeks after authorities arrested the father of a child who died after leaving public school — the second such death reported in the last year.
It was not immediately clear from Monday’s proceedings that the homeschooling language had been removed from Senate Bill 6. Appropriations co-Chair Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, mentioned that “Section 5” of the bill had been deleted but did not say what it included. It was the section on homeschooling.
There was no discussion in committee before members voted, sending the bill to the Senate.
To remove a child from public school in Connecticut, parents currently need only to inform their school district in writing. From that point on, they have no legally mandated engagement with the state.
Critics say abusive parents can take advantage of this lack of oversight, as in the case of 11-year-old Jacqueline “Mimi” Torres-Garcia, whose body was discovered last year.
Under the now-deleted Section 5 of S.B. 6, the Connecticut State Department of Education would notify the Department of Children and Families whenever a parent communicates their intent to homeschool a child. DCF would then check for any open cases with the child in question. This, proponents said, would flag cases where parents might be removing children from school for malicious reasons while sparing those who have done nothing wrong.
But that effort hit an early snag when CSDE raised concerns the bill might violate the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, commonly known as FERPA. During a public hearing, Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker said FERPA prohibited her department from disclosing students’ information in the way S.B. 6 would require.
If the bill were to become law, Russell-Tucker warned, the state could lose millions of dollars of federal education funding. A subsequent review from the Office of Fiscal Analysis affirmed those concerns.
Notably, neither Russell-Tucker nor the OFA expressed those same reservations about House Bill 5468, which would establish similar regulations for homeschooling. That bill is still in play; Whether it survives the Appropriations Committee — and in what form — remains to be seen. It squeaked through the Education Committee on a vote of 26-20, with a handful of Democrats joining all the committee’s Republican members in voting “No” and at least one lawmaker changing from “No” to “Yes” before voting closed.
Homeschooling advocates have been vehement in their opposition to both bills, which they say unfairly target a population that has done nothing wrong. Thousands submitted written opposition earlier in the year, with hundreds more coming to the statehouse to voice their concerns during a public hearing. Homeschooled children told lawmakers about achievements far outpacing what most of their public school peers are doing, and many expressed fear of the bullying in the public school system.
They drastically outnumbered supporters of the legislation, which included Child Advocate Christina Ghio and one former homeschooler who said she had previously been made to testify in opposition of regulation by abusive parents.
Some Republican lawmakers have suggested the real way to prevent cases like Torres-Garcia’s is to reform DCF. Others, like Rep. Lezlye Zupkus of Prospect, have expressed doubt that any law could prevent parents with ill intent from harming their kids.
The Connecticut Mirror reached out to multiple legislative leaders on the Education and Appropriations Committees for comment. Education Committee co-Chair Rep. Jennifer Leeper, D-Fairfield, said she could not comment on what was a Senate decision to remove Section 5 from S.B. 6. The others did not respond time for publication.
CT Mirror reporters Laura Tillman and Ginny Monk contributed to this story.
