Guilty Until Proven Innocent In The Land Of Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln would be disheartened by the current state of affairs. Lincoln moved to Illinois in 1830 at the age of 21 and lived there for 31 years until he was elected president in 1861. During his time in Illinois, he practiced law and served in the state legislature in Springfield, where his home and tomb are also located. He was morally opposed to slavery and believed in upholding the principle of personal freedoms. The state has a rich history related to Lincoln, featuring numerous attractions and sites dedicated to the 16th president. Unfortunately, many Democrats in the state seem to have lost that sense of fairness and are now criticizing parents who wish to send their children to private schools or choose to homeschool them.

On Wednesday, members of the House Education Policy Committee convened to review HB 2827, commonly referred to as the Homeschool Act.

The bill mandates that all private and religious elementary and secondary schools must register with the state annually. Additionally, these schools are required to provide sensitive information about their students, including names and home addresses. Furthermore, the bill stipulates that private schools must clearly outline their policies and explicitly promise not to restrict hairstyles that are historically associated with race or ethnicity.

The idea that a school system that invades the sanctity of children’s minds and grooms them with delusional sexual ideas, while trying to keep their perverse intentions from the parents, would require anything from these private schools or homeschooling is laughable.

The bill requires all homeschooling parents or guardians, who are required to have a high school diploma or its equivalent, to complete a homeschool declaration form for their homeschooled children. This form must be submitted to the public school or school district where the children would otherwise attend. Additionally, the form must be resubmitted each year while the children are being homeschooled; failure to do so may result in the child being classified as truant.

District and/or office of education officials may require homeschool administrators to provide an “educational portfolio” for homeschooled children. This portfolio should include samples of the child’s writing, worksheets, workbooks, and any other creative materials they have developed.

Additionally, homeschooled children who wish to participate in extracurricular activities at public schools, such as sports, must provide proof of immunization and health examinations or a certificate of religious exemption.

According to WTTW, parents and guardians who homeschool must comply with this measure; otherwise, they could face misdemeanor charges.

The bill was introduced by state Rep. Terra Costa Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) and has more than a dozen cosponsors, all of whom are Democrats, many of whom are women. Howard brought the usual misleading window dressing with her to try to justify this injustice.

Howard argued that the bill is essential for protecting children who could be victims of abusive parents or guardians. The rationale is that these parents may hide their mistreatment by keeping their children at home, away from the watchful eyes of teachers, administrators, and coaches.

“Currently, Illinois has zero, I’m going to say it again, zero regulations. Thirty-eight states have regulations. Illinois is an outlier. This is not something we want to be an outlier on.”

“We have tracked over 500 cases of extreme abuse and neglect in homeschool settings where the abuse escalated because of the isolation afforded through homeschooling,” claimed Jonah Stewart, research director of the Coalition for Responsible Home Education.

500 cases nationwide? I agree that even one is too many, but what about the millions of children whose minds have been poisoned by a public school system that is rotting from the inside out because of radical liberal leftists, who would rather indoctrinate than educate.

Not surprisingly, homeschooling parents and advocates are furious that such presumptions are being made about their motives.

Will Estrada, senior counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association, vehemently disagrees.

“The proponents claim that children who are being homeschooled are at greater risk of abuse and neglect. This is not supported by the two peer-reviewed studies that have been produced.”

Some are concerned that the bill may be enforced selectively, potentially leading to harassment of law-abiding Christians and other homeschoolers. However, Howard emphasized that investigations into homeschooling families would only be conducted in response to serious allegations.

“This bill targets homeschool parents and treats us like criminals, presumed guilty until proven innocent,” said Aziza Butler, a former public-school teacher who now homeschools her children.

“We believe this is religious persecution,” said homeschool parent Latasha Fields. “This bill invades our privacy, is unconstitutional, and it threatens our rights. It represents an overreach that interferes with parental rights.”

The audacity of this group to suspect that parents would do more harm than the radical faction of teachers that has infested our schools is astounding. This is nothing more than the left feeling cheated that there are children out there that they can’t get within their disgusting icy grip of perversion.

Thousands of concerned parents, including Fields and Butler, gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday to protest the bill. They sang hymns and patriotic songs, demonstrating a peaceful approach that contrasted sharply with the disruptive and often violent protests by leftist groups at other Capitol buildings across the country in recent years.

In a remarkable show of unity, these parents and homeschooling groups submitted an impressive 40,000 witness slips in opposition to the bill, while supporters gathered fewer than 1,000 witness slips.

However, the House Education Policy Committee turned its back on their constituents and voted 8-4 in favor of the bill. Every Democrat but one who voted present disregarded what the public wanted.

This is a clear example of how Democrats vote for every agenda they want to push and give the middle finger to anyone who disagrees with them. There were 40,000 people who voted against the bill, and fewer than 1,000 in favor of it; nevertheless, Democrats still voted to move the bill forward.

The fact is Democrats don’t give a damn what the American people want, they believe they are smarter than the average American and they will do anything to impose their will on the nation.

According to the watchdog group Illinois Policy, three Democratic co-sponsors of the Homeschool Act are among the top recipients of political donations from the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT). Since 2010, the campaigns of state Representatives Costa Howard, Katie Stuart, and Janet Yang Rohr have collectively received over $630,000 in donations from the IFT.

In April 2022, the Illinois Education Association honored Costa Howard with an award for her “deep support of public education” and her positive impact on “all our education support personnel.”

The union went on to state:

“Costa Howard is a champion of the rights of our education employees. We are proud to honor her with our Friend of Education award.”

Howard is nothing more than a tool for the union. They don’t care about educating children; they want control of what they are taught, and they can only accomplish that if they attend public school. Private schools and homeschooling are enemies of the indoctrination they endlessly promote.

Illinois is attacking the rights of parents in the state to choose how they want their children educated. Equally as bad, they are slandering these loving parents by projecting the hatred in their hearts through insinuation onto law-abiding Americans. This is educational fascism, and it needs to be challenged in the highest court possible.