Wednesday morning, State Representative Terra Costa-Howard (D-Lombard) brought before the Illinois House’s Education Policy Committee an amendment to her “Anti-Homeschool Act’ that would - for the first time - require Illinois homeschooling families to register their students with the state.

State Representative Terra Costa Howard (D-Lombard) has filed another amendment to HB 2827, "The Homeschool Act," in hopes of picking up more votes among her colleagues in the Illinois House. They are working overtime to try to pass this bill out of the House and move it over to the Illinois Senate this week.

In various media interviews, State Representative Terra Costa Howard (D-Lombard) has repeatedly claimed that there are no regulations in Illinois for homeschoolers. This is not true. Moreover, she has repeatedly suggested that state lawmakers “have to do something to make sure that kids are receiving an education,” yet year after year public school systems miss the academic mark for a majority of their students.

This 2025 School Board Candidate Guide is designed to help voters make informed decisions about those individuals running for their local school board. Serving on a school board is a profound opportunity to shape the future of education, advocate for parents and their students. School board members can influence critical decisions on curriculum, budgeting, and policies that directly impact the quality of education in your district.

House Bill 2827 is facing significant opposition from various groups, particularly homeschool advocates, parents, and organizations concerned with educational freedom and parental rights. IFI's Dave Smith and State Rep. Chris Miller join Sandra Miller on Fox News Channel to highlight some of our concerns.

It is vitally important that we pray fervently for God’s help in defeating this bill, make phone calls, send emails, schedule visits, and then pray some more.

Even as suicide, drug abuse, sexual depravity, gender confusion, illiteracy, and violence reach record levels among children in Illinois government schools, leftist lawmakers and far-left media propagandists are painting a target on the backs of homeschool families in the state.

State Representative Terra Costa Howard, the sponsor the anti-homeschooling bill (HB 2827), has introduced an amendment which will be heard in committee this Wednesday at the Capitol. Your calls, emails and witness slips against this effort to diminish homeschool freedoms in Illinois. Speak up for parental rights!

The battle continues and your participation is making a difference!

Government schools across Texas are protecting child rapists and abusers, even allowing them to be legally shifted around to other schools to abuse more children, according to official documents and data compiled by researchers. It is happening in Illinois too... consider the test alarming reports about the sexual assaults on students in Chicago Public Schools.

President Trump wants to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. Sounds outrageous to some. This move aligns with his broader agenda to reduce federal involvement in local matters.

Get rid of DEI. Yes! There are only two genders, male and female. Amen. Shut down the Department of Education. Let’s get started. Let’s get the government to support Christian schools and homeschooling. Hmm, is this something we should be advocating for?

As of this week, 15 Illinois House members are willing to sign onto the 45-page legislation and support an unprecedented attack on parental rights. HB 2827 would diminish homeschool freedoms in the state.

Education is vitally important. It produces a variety of societal and economic benefits, including cognitive skills, civic engagement, career opportunities, communication skills, social mobility, and many more.

Over the years, we have loved being able to tell people that Illinois was among the best states with homeschooling freedoms. That is thanks, in part to a 1950 case (People v. Levisen) in which the Illinois Supreme Court determined that the term "private school" included instruction given to a child at home, as long as the instruction was adequate.