Source: https://www.dcba.org/mpage/vol201007art4
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 10:59:10+00:00

Document:
States have a compelling interest in ensuring that all children receive an adequate education. Education prepares children to support themselves as adults and to participate in the political process.2 In order to ensure that all children receive an adequate education, each state has com-pulsory school attendance laws. The Supreme Court has held that states have the power "to compel attendance at some school and to make reasonable regulations for all schools."3 However, parents have the right to direct the upbringing of their children and make decisions regarding their children’s edu-cation,4 so states cannot require that children receive their edu-cation only from a public school.5 Each state recognizes the right of parents to homeschool their children, but they have taken different approaches in recognizing this right.
Although the Levisen Court held that the burden of showing compliance with the law is on the parents,35 the lack of an enforce-ment procedure has resulted in nobody having the authority to require parents to notify the state that they are homeschooling or to provide tangible proof that they actually are educating their children. Private schools are held accountable for the education they provide in various ways that homeschools, by their nature, cannot be held accountable.36 Therefore, Illinois should stop treating homeschools as private schools and should adopt a specific homeschool statute to ensure that children are being provided with an adequate education.
Although strict scrutiny must be applied only when home-schooling requirements impinge on both the parents’ right to direct the upbringing of their children and on their right to the free exercise of their religion, in order to avoid determinations as to whether parents’ religious beliefs are sincere, an Illinois homeschooling statute should be narrowly tailored to further the State’s compelling interest in ensuring that all students are being educated adequately. For instance, an Illinois homeschooling statute should require parents to notify the state that they are homeschooling. However, the form that parents are asked to complete, ISBE 87-01,64 is not narrowly tailored since it requires parents to fulfill requirements that are unnecessary to further the State’s interest. ISBE 87-01 asks for assurances that the children are being taught for at least five hours per day for 176 days a year.65 Homeschooling parents are able to give more individual attention to their children and to take advantage of more creative learning oppor-tunities than teachers who must teach many children at once within the confines of a classroom, so requiring parents to teach five hours per day for 176 days per year is not necessary to further the State’s interest.
Furthermore, ISBE 87-01 asks for assurances that the school will complete an immunization form.66 Some parents have religious objections to having their children immunized. Homeschooled child-ren are not in a classroom, so they are less likely to contract illnesses or transfer them to other children. Therefore, immunizing home-schooled children is not necessary to ensure that homeschooled, publicly-schooled, or privately-schooled children in Illinois are adequately educated. Because an Illinois homeschooling statute should be narrowly tailored, the notice requirement should only require the names, birthdates, and grade levels of the children; an address and phone number of the place where the education will take place; the names of the parents who will be providing the education; and the method that the parents have chosen to evaluate their children’s academic progress.
In addition to leaving to the parents’ discretion the number of hours and days the children will be instructed and whether the children will be immunized, the statute should also leave to the parents’ discretion the majority of the subject matter that must be taught, requiring only the basic skills of reading, writing, and math. By requiring that children be taught how to read, write, and do math, the statute furthers the State’s interest in educating citizens so they will be able to support themselves and participate in the political process as adults, while at the same time infringing only minimally on the parents’ right to direct the upbringing of their children. It also recognizes that parents and professionals sometimes disagree on what should be taught to children and how it should be taught.
"The state must have a mechanism by which it can confidently and objectively be assured that its citizens are being adequately educated,"67 but that mechanism must also be the least restrictive means available if it is to withstand strict scrutiny. There-fore, Illinois should provide parents with at least two methods of evaluation from which they can choose. The first option should be a standardized test administered by someone chosen by the parents and approved by the State. The parents should be given a list of tests from which to choose, and the State should bear the costs of the test. Keeping in mind the previous explanation why only the basic skills of reading, writing, and math should be required, the list of tests should include ones that evaluate only those academic areas.
Conclusion. Illinois’ com-pulsory attendance law does not sufficiently ensure that home-schooled children are being educated because it fails to require parents to register with the State and fails to provide a method for its enforcement. To further the State’s compelling interest in ensuring that children are ade-quately educated, Illinois should adopt a homeschool statute that is narrowly tailored. Therefore, it should not require parents to teach for a specified number of hours or days, to immunize their children, or to teach subjects beyond the basic skills of reading, writing, and math. Parents should have the choice between having their children evaluated with stan-dardized tests and submitting portfolios of their children’s work. It should also describe the procedures that the ROE should follow if the evaluation shows that a child scored below the 30th percentile or performed one or more grade levels below children of the same age.
2 Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 221 (1923).
3 Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 402 (1923).
4 Meyer, 262 U.S. at 399-400.
5 Pierce v. Soc’y of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 535 (1925).
6 105 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann. 5/26-1 (West 1998 & Supp. 2006).
8 People v. Levisen, 404 Ill. 574, 577, 90 N.E.2d 213, 215 (1950).
9 Levisen, 404 Ill. at 578, 90 N.E.2d at 215.
10 Illinois State Board of Education, Directory of Regional Offices of Education and Intermediate Service Centers 2 (September 2006), http://www.isbe.state.il.us/regionaloffices/pdf/roedirectory.pdf.
11 Letter from Gerald M. Brookhart, Superintendent of Peoria County Regional Office of Education, to author (Sept. 28, 2006) (on file with Northern Illinois University Law Review).
12 Illinois State Board of Education, Form 87-01: 2006-2007 Nonpublic Registration, Enrollment, and Staff Report, http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ research/pdfs/87-01_np_report.pdf.
13 See A survey conducted by the author of this article directed to Regional Offices of Education throughout Illinois, the results of which are available upon request by contacting the Northern Illinois University College of Law - Law Review Office at (815) 753-0619 or lawreview@niu.edu (Forty-four ROEs were surveyed, and fifteen responded. Nine of the fifteen ROEs responded that when their office receives allegations that a homeschooled child is not receiving an education that complies with Illinois law, the ROE requests the parent/guardian of the homeschooled child to complete either ISBE 87-01 or a registration form created by that ROE. Eight of these nine ROEs responded that the completion of the registration form is voluntary, and one of the nine indicated that it requires parents and/or guardians to sign a statement verifying they are homeschooling their children. Six of the fifteen ROEs surveyed responded that when their office receives an allegation that a homeschooled student is not being educated in compliance with the Illinois compulsory attendance law, the ROE has no legal authority to monitor the child’s homeschooling or to do anything more than encourage the parents to comply with the law. Seven of the fifteen ROEs responded that when their office receives an allegation that a homeschooled student is not being educated in compliance with the Illinois compulsory attendance law and the ROE finds that the allegation is true or cannot be verified, the ROE contacts the State’s Attorney.).
14 S.B. 1202, 85th Gen. Assem., Reg. Sess. (Ill. 1987).
15 S.B. 1202, 2nd reading, at 243.
16 See id. at 247-48.
17 See Ad Hoc Committee, http://www.illinoishouse.org/a17.htm (last visited Dec. 29, 2006).
18 See S.B. 1202, 2nd reading, at 248.
19 Id. at 246, 248.
20 S.B. 1202, 3rd reading, at 51.
21 H.B. 1265, 86th Gen. Assem., Reg. Sess. (Ill. 1989).
23 See supra note 13.
24 See Ashley Wiehle, Mother Convicted of Allowing Truancy, The Southern Illinoisan, May 26, 2006, http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2006/05/26/top/16444460.txt.
28 See supra note 13. The Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is an organization of families who homeschool their children. HSLDA provides legal services to member families and advocates for homeschooling on Capitol Hill, in state legislatures, and in the media. See http://www.hslda.org/about/default.asp.
29 Christopher Klicka, Illinois: Officials Visit Homeschool Families Demanding to See Curriculum), http://www.hslda.org/elert/archive/2006/09/20060911115315.asp. (Sept. 11, 2006, 11:53:15AM).
30 Homes School Legal Defense Association, Charleston School District Requires Illegal Registration for Private Schools, (Aug. 5, 2005) http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/il/200508050.asp?.
32 Letter from HSLDA to Lee/Ogle Regional Office of Education (January 4, 2006) (on file with Northern Illinois University Law Review).
35 See Levisen, 404 Ill. at 578, 90 N.E.2d at 215.
36 Murphy v. Arkansas, 852 F.2d 1039, 1044 (8th Cir. 1988).
37 See, e.g., Fla. Stat. §1002.41(1)(a) (West 2004). See also HSLDA Home School Laws, http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?.
38 See, e.g., N.D. Cent. Code §15.1-23-02(1)(e) (2003); Ark. Code Ann. §6-15-503(3)(E) (1999).
39 See, e.g., Ga. Code Ann. §20-2-690(c)(3) (West 2003 & Supp 2006); N.M. Stat. §22-1-2.1(C) (2006).
40 See, e.g., Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-6-3050(b)(7) (2002 & Supp. 2006).
41 See, e.g., Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 380.1561(3)(a) (West 1995) (If the homeschool is operated as a state approved nonpublic school, the instructor must have a teaching certificate). But see Mich. Comp. Laws § 380.1561(3)(f) (West 1995); People v. DeJonge, 501 N.W.2d 127 (Mich. 1993) (If the child is educated at home in an organized educational program, then the instructor does not need to have a teaching certificate).
42 See, e.g., N.D. Cent. Code §§ 15.1-23-03(1)-(4), 15.1-23-06, 15.1-23-07 (2003); Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 28A.225.010(4)(a)-(c) (West 2006).
43 See, e.g., Utah Code Ann. § 53A-11-102(2)(b)(ii) (2006).
44 See, e.g., Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(5) (West 2003 & Supp. 2006).
45 See, e.g., Utah Code Ann. § 53A-11-102(2)(b)(i) (2006).
46 See, e.g., 24 Pa. Stat. Ann. 13-1327.1(c)(1) (West 2006).
47 See, e.g., Minn. Stat. Ann. § 120A.22(11) (West 2000 & Supp. 2006).
48 See, e.g., 24 Pa. Stat. Ann. 13-1327.1(c)(2) (West 2006).
49 Fla. Stat. Ann. §1002.41(1)(b)(2003).
50 See Iowa Code §§ 299A.2, 299A.4(3), 299A.4(7)(a)-(c), 299.4 (West 1996 & Supp. 2006).
51 Minn. Stat. Ann. § 120A.22 (West 2000 & Supp. 2006).
54 See 24 Pa. Stat. Ann. 13-1327.1(h) (West 2006).
60 24 Pa. Stat. Ann. 13-1327.1(k) (West 2006).
61 See 406 U.S. 205, 233 (1972).
63 See Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act, 775 Ill. Comp. Stat. 35/10 (West 2001).
64 See supra note 13.
65 Illinois State Board of Education , Form 87-01: 2006-2007 Nonpublic Registration, Enrollment, and Staff Report, http://www.isbe.state.il.us/research/pdfs/87-01_np_report.pdf.
67 Murphy v. Arkansas, 852 F.2d 1039, 1042 (8th Cir. 1988).
68 See Iowa Code § 299A.4 (7)(a)-(c) (West 1996 & Supp. 2006).
69 See Minn. Stat. Ann. § 120A.22 (West 2000 & Supp. 2006).
70 24 Pa. Stat. Ann. 13-1327.1(j) (West 2006).
Erica Mynarich earned her under-graduate degree from Loyola Uni-versity Chicago in December 2003. She is a third year law student at Northern Illinois University College of Law.

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