CT Democrats Rewrite Homeschool Bill to Win House Votes

Connecticut Democrats have rewritten House Bill 5468, stripping out several of the measure’s most contested provisions in an attempt to get enough votes to clear the full House before the legislative session ends May 6.

The revised bill drops the requirement that homeschooling families submit annual proof of instruction to the state. It also removes language that would have let homeschooled students take up to two public school classes and join extracurricular activities. What survives is a one-time cross-check against the state abuse and neglect registry and a Department of Children and Families investigation database, plus an in-person notification requirement when a parent withdraws a child from public school to homeschool.

Rep. Jennifer Leeper, D-Fairfield, is sponsoring HB 5468 and has led the push to get it across the finish line. She said the changes address worries that the legislation was moving too far, too fast.

“The goal of HB 5468 is to prevent cases like those while imposing as little as possible on other homeschooling families, most of whom she said are doing everything right,” Leeper told reporters, pointing to the recent deaths of two children as the driving reason for reform.

The version isn’t law yet. It exists right now as an “uncalled amendment,” meaning the House must formally call it during an upcoming session before members can vote. If the House passes it, the amended bill moves to the Senate. Leeper said she expects it to be called but doesn’t know when.

The clock is short.

The General Assembly’s session ends May 6. Any bill that hasn’t cleared both chambers by that date is dead for the year.

What the data shows

The urgency behind HB 5468 isn’t just anecdotal. A report from the Office of the Child Advocate examined a randomly selected group of 774 homeschooled children and found that 23% came from households with at least one accepted DCF report. Eight percent lived in families with four or more such reports. Under the bill’s remaining cross-check provision, families with that kind of DCF history would likely fail the initial screening when they first notify a school of their intent to homeschool.

That data has been central to Leeper’s argument that some oversight is warranted, even if it’s limited.

Opposition, organized and loud

The bill’s path has been rough from the start. Republicans on the Education Committee made clear a fight was coming the day the bill was raised. A public hearing drew hundreds of homeschooling parents and children to the statehouse, with thousands more submitting online testimony against it. The Education Committee passed HB 5468 in March by a vote of 26-20, with four Democrats joining every Republican in opposition. The bill then moved to the Appropriations Committee.

Leeper attributed much of the organized resistance to national homeschool groups directing members across the country to submit testimony and flood the process. She said she has had private conversations with homeschooling parents who support the bill but won’t say so publicly because they fear being alienated within the community. She shared screenshots of Facebook posts from parents who wrote that they had each submitted “dozens” of individual testimonies.

That kind of coordinated opposition is a real political factor. Connecticut’s homeschooling community is active and vocal, and it doesn’t map neatly onto party lines. Some of the bill’s Democratic skeptics represent suburban and rural districts where homeschooling is common and constituents have contacted them directly.

What this means for CT families

CT Mirror reported that the rewrite reflects how fragile the vote count is. Leeper is trying to thread a needle: keep enough of the bill’s child safety provisions to satisfy advocates for reform while cutting enough to bring hesitant Democrats on board.

For families in Fairfield County and the Hartford suburbs who homeschool, the bill as revised is notably less intrusive than earlier versions. There’s no annual reporting burden. There’s no state review of curricula or instruction logs. The cross-check is a one-time step at enrollment, similar to requirements that exist in other states.

For children’s safety advocates, the question is whether what’s left is enough. The Office of the Child Advocate report pointed to a real overlap between DCF involvement and homeschooling, and critics of the rewrite argue the stripped-down bill doesn’t address what happens after that initial cross-check passes.

Watch for the House calendar in the next two weeks. If Leeper can get the amendment called before the session ends, the vote will tell you exactly where Connecticut Democrats stand on children’s oversight versus parental rights.