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.
Hellbound and Down 