Model bill threatens homeschooling

During the past two years, several states have introduced bills designed to impose additional restrictions on homeschooling. The bills were influenced by a model piece of legislation called the Make Homeschooling Safe Act (MHSA), introduced in 2024 by the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE, crhe.org).

The Stand asked Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA, hslda.org) Senior Counsel Will Estrada to discuss the dangerous impact of MHSA on homeschooling freedom and parental rights.

The Stand: What is MHSA and what is its purpose?

Will Estrada: MHSA is a model bill. It’s not an actual piece of legislation that’s been introduced anywhere, but it’s a model bill that was published by CRHE a couple years ago.

CRHE has been around for over a decade and says it is just advocating for responsible homeschooling, but what it is advocating for is a pro-authoritarian, deeply government-controlled program of education that would make homeschooling difficult – if not impossible – for most families. MHSA is … CHRE’s signature model of what it deems as responsible homeschooling. It’s a 24-page bill that would make … homeschooling [families] … need to have a lawyer representing them to fill out paperwork and comply with requirements.

It is so draconian that there’s not a single state in the nation that has anything similar to it. If passed, it would put the United States on the level of countries like the United Kingdom or Sweden when it comes to homeschooling.

TS: Are the policies promoted by CRHE having an impact on any state laws regarding homeschooling?

WE: CRHE representatives regularly show up at hearings across the 50 states, opposing bills that would provide more freedom to homeschoolers and supporting bills that are deeply concerning to homeschoolers.

For example, they were the lead architects behind HB 2827 in Illinois last year, which would have made criminal penalties for families that didn’t file paperwork with the school district. They testified in support of HB 2376, which was a bill in Tennessee that would have required all homeschool students to take Common Core-aligned tests in the local public school. That’s just an example of what they do around the country – advocating for less freedom, more regulation on homeschoolers.

TS: What is the biggest concern about MHSA?

WE: Since MHSA came out [in 2024], about 10 states have taken portions of [the regulations from the model] and introduced [them into legislation]. Not a single one has become law.

When HSLDA was founded in 1983, homeschooling was illegal in most of the 50 states. In the few states where it was legal, it was rare; it was heavily regulated, and it was difficult to homeschool your children. By 1996, 13 years after we were founded, all 50 states had legalized homeschooling. In the years since, … almost all the states have not only expanded their homeschool laws but have repealed many onerous and unnecessary requirements.

Going back to the start of legalized homeschooling, not one state has ever gone backward; almost every state has improved when it comes to homeschool freedom. If even one provision of MHSA were ever enacted in any state, that would be the first time in modern homeschool history [to go] backward when it comes to parental rights and homeschool freedom.