SB483: Regulation of Homeschooling dropped overnight on the IGA’s website.
Our team met with the Indiana Department of Education and policymakers earlier this month to discuss the issue of chronic absenteeism and truancy in public schools. We knew a bill would be filed, but the language is far more egregious than expected. While we understand that the schools are facing significant challenges in dealing with chronic absenteeism and decreased enrollment, we will not stand by and allow homeschoolers to be drawn into additional regulations.
UPDATE: January 14 at 6 pm
Earlier in the month, IAHE met with state leaders and lawmakers to discuss the chronic absenteeism occurring in many publicly funded schools-schools that claim their attendance numbers, and therefore funding, are being negatively impacted by those withdrawing chronic absentee students to homeschool.
This is not a new-to-us issue. IAHE and IAHE Action have monitored attempts to label public school truants and dropouts as homeschoolers for years.
- Count Day Walkout Plans Leave Homeschoolers as Monkey In the Middle
- IAHE Action Responds: Hidden dropouts?
- SB 567: Homeschoolers as dropouts?
- Public School Push-out Problem
What does this bill say?
SB 483 officially defines homeschooling in statute as “educating the student at a nonaccredited, nonpublic school that has less than one (1) employee in which the parent of the student provides the student with instruction equivalent to that given in the public schools”. It is unclear if this would pertain to just those students in a public school corporation or any publicly funded school. It is important to note that not only is homeschooling defined but the person permitted to homeschool the child is also defined and limited strictly to the parent.
This bill specifically institutes additional laws beyond the definition and educator restriction that would currently only apply to high school students. We know this because it’s placement into IC 20-33-2-28 which pertains only to high school students.
The bill defines a “chronically absent” student as one enrolled in a public school that has missed at least 10% of the days within the school year. This means a child would be absent more than 18 days. This would apply to both excused and unexcused absences. It’s important to note that statutes regarding a parent’s duty to educate their child, habitual truancy (defined as 10 or more days of absence), prosecution, and truancy prevention plans already exist.
What this bill does is codify homeschooling and open the door wide open for further and more expansive regulation.
To withdraw the chronically absent high schooler from the public school, the parent would be required to submit a “thorough plan” that would include curriculum and courses that would be completed while the child was being homeschooled. There is no definition of a “thorough plan.”
The parent would also be required to:
- Meet with the Superintendent of the previous public school (referred to as “the school origin”) no less than two times each semester for the first full school year the child is homeschooled to provide a progress report. The progress report must consist of:
- Evidence of school work (portfolio)
- Learning progress (think standardized testing)
- Meet with the Superintendent not less than two times annually for each school year they are homeschooling AND a progress report.
If the parent does not do these things OR the child is seen as not progressing, the child will be reported as a habitual truant (they already met this definition), and the prosecutor will be notified. The family will never homeschool free of the government.
This bill will NOT fix the problem of chronic absenteeism. It shifts the burden from CPS for at risk children to LOCAL school superintendents… to do a job they are not equipped to do while pointing the finger at homeschooling.
We continue to monitor this bill very closely and will remain in close communication with state leaders and lawmakers. As of Tuesday, January 14th, there is no call to action with legislators. We must remain vigilant and monitor the bill if it moves forward.
You can help protect #homeschoolfreedom when you attend the 2025 IAHE Homeschool Day at the Capitol on Thursday, Jan 23, 2025.
LEARN MORE
Legislative Watch 2025: SB483 Regulation of Homeschooling
UPDATE: January 23, 2025
SB 483 author Sen. Raatz spoke at the IAHE Day at the Capitol. During his remarks to the attendees he shared that while they will continue to look at ways to address truancy issues in public schools, he will NOT move SB 483 forward.