The legislation seeks to formalize parents’ rights to homeschool their kids as they see fit by shielding homeschooling families from increased regulation by state agencies.
Under the bill no state educational institution would be able to create “any rule that has the effect of increasing regulation of an educational program” listed under the state’s current Education Code for homeschooled students.
Jeremy Newman, vice president of policy at the Texas Home School Coalition (THSC), which advocates for homeschooling families in the state, is one of the bill’s most vocal supporters. He said the legislation will go a long way to ensuring the state doesn’t unilaterally adopt new regulations as it has in the past.
He pointed out that in the 1980s and 1990s, state agencies decided unilaterally to make homeschooling illegal, even though the Texas legislature made it legal in 1915. As a result, Newman said, “Parents were prosecuted, thrown in jail, and had their children removed by CPS because of their decision to homeschool.”
Following a nine-year legal battle, the Texas Supreme Court ruled on the legality of homeschooling in the landmark case Leeper v. Arlington ISD.
Newman said this bill “ensures that we never again have a situation where an executive agency tries to unilaterally regulate homeschool programs.”