Began in 1984 to establish dialogue with the Illinois State Board of Education to reinstate the Private Home School category on the voluntary Non-Public Registration, Enrollment and Staff Report. Ad Hoc has continued to work for the restoration of this voluntary option (see update, Summer 1989)
Testified in Senate Committee and helped defeat Senate Bill 1202 in spring of 1987. This legislation would have established a registration process for all children attending private schools. Further, SB1202 would have established a separate and discriminatory registration process for students in private home schools.
In May 1987 joined the Illinois Advisory Committee on Non-Public Schools (Now Illinois Coalition of Non-Public Schools – ICNS) with Dorothy Werner as our representative. ICNS represents the majority of children in private education and is concerned with preservation of parental rights to choose alternatives to public school education. ICNS works with the Illinois State Board of Education, the General Assembly and the Governor’s office.
Helped defeat efforts of Cook County Regional Superintendent Richard Martwick in his attempt to outlaw private Home School education in Cook County in 1987 – 1988.
Joined the Illinois State Board of Education Pupil Accounting System Advisory Group in January of 1988 with Mike McHugh as our representative. We have consistently expressed the private Home School position of no mandatory state registration of Illinois students or schools.
In April 1988 and January 1989 made presentations to the Illinois Truancy Prevention Association. These productive meetings allowed us to provide considerable information regarding Home Schools’ legal status.
In 1989 we supported the passage of Public Law 89-1726 which removed the authority to investigate uncomplicated educational neglect from the Department of Children and Family Services.
Testified in House Committee and helped defeat House Bill 1265 in 1989. This bill was intended to separate private home schools from other private schools, and would have mandated registration.
Summer 1989, corresponded with Dr. Robert Leininger, Illinois State Superintendent of Schools about voluntary registration of private Home Schools. This dialog resulted in an Illinois State Board of Education decision to reinstate the Private Home School option on the Non-Public Registration, Enrollment and Staff Report. This voluntary form is used by all other private schools choosing to register with the state. This is an appropriate recognition of the legal status of Home Schools as private schools.
In September 1999, the Illinois State Board of Education began to refer all phone inquiries concerning home education to the Ad Hoc Committee.
In 1999, we assisted in the defeat of a bill requiring registration of children’s immunizations. Passage of this bill would have had the effect of involuntarily registering homeschool students with the state.
Mailed packets of information to all Regional Superintendents in 2003 and 2007 detailing the law as it applies to private home schools and providing other useful information.
In 2007 Ad Hoc was consulted by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) during the development of its web page on home schooling. Although not all of our objections were addressed, several significant points were clarified because of our participation.
In February, 2011, attended the committee hearing while over 4000 homeschoolers calmly and quietly filled the room, all the capitol halls, and wound outside around the building to show their opposition to Senate Bill 136. Dorothy Werner, founder of HOUSE (now ILHSA) and representative for Ad Hoc, spoke to the senators on the committee and explained that they already had enough laws on the books to deal with children who are being abused or neglected. They just needed to use them. She explained our opposition to registration by describing the events of 1985 when then-Chicago ROE, Mr. Martwick, talked 200 homeschoolers into registering and then proceeded to pull every one of them into court for truancy. The bill failed to pass out of committee.
Created Ad Hoc’s website in November, 2021, and sent a mailing to all of Illinois’s ROEs that included an announcement of the website and a copy of our updated brochure.
Successfully lobbied for an amendment to Senate Bill 550 in November 2016. This bill (that has since passed and been signed into law) required all schools, including private schools, serving pre-K through fifth grade, to test their drinking water for lead, report the results to the state, and remediate if needed. Ad Hoc’s amendment specified that the law only applied to private schools with more than ten students, thereby eliminating homeschools from the requirement without having to specifically name and define homeschools in the bill.
Helped defeat House Bill 26 in March, 2017, which would have required all public universities to accept any students in the top 10% of their high school’s graduating class. That would have significantly impaired homeschooled students’ ability to attend those schools (as well as students from any better performing schools) because homeschools don’t have rankings like “the top 10%.”
Addressed House Bill 1918 in May, 2019, which was about work permits for minors, but carved out an exemption for homeschoolers. Ad Hoc resisted there being any mention of homeschoolers in the law. The bill did not pass.
Opposed Senate Bill 2075 in May, 2019, which would have lowered the compulsory attendance age to 5 from 6. Ad Hoc got the word out, and homeschoolers made calls and filled out witness slips. There was also opposition from other quarters. The bill did not pass.