Former public-school teacher, homeschool mom warns Illinois bill will hurt black families

Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Aziza Butler is passionate about educating the next generation of black children – which is why she opposes recent legislation targeting homeschoolers.

“As a former Chicago Public Schools teacher, a homeschooling mother and a community leader who engages daily with families from diverse educational backgrounds, I can confidently say that Illinois House Bill 2827, the Homeschool Act, is harmful – not just for homeschoolers but also for every student in Illinois,” she wrote in a recent Chicago Tribune commentary, adding “…this bill introduces another dangerous pathway to criminalize loving black parents.”

Problems in traditional schools 

Butler points to homeschooling’s growth among the black community as evidence of dissatisfaction with the current public-school model. 

“Homeschooling has become the fastest-growing educational choice among black parents nationwide, driven by the courageous desire to give their children a safer, more nurturing and academically enriching environment than what they’ve experienced in traditional schools.” 

Examples include states such as Georgia, where an estimated 79,000 students homeschooled in the 2023-24 academic year. 

“Everything is ready for us to put family first in such a way that it’s going to create societal change,” said Nicole P. Doyle, co-founder of Georgia Black Home Educators Network (GBHEN). 

“It’s a more intense and beautiful journey when you are being intentional about everything, including education.” 

Doyle started GHBEN in 2023 to cultivate environments honoring diverse cultural backgrounds, in part by bridging technology and educational equity gaps. 

“In the face of the educational upheaval brought on by the pandemic, I became committed to highlighting homeschooling as a school choice option,” she said. 

Not only has this option grown since COVID-19, but it has also attracted more than 40 years of implementation by families. 

Test outcomes have demonstrated the power of homeschooling across diverse demographics – including the black community, according to Butler. 

“Black homeschool students nationally score as much as 42 percentile points higher than their public school counterparts, clearly demonstrating homeschooling’s effectiveness.” 

‘Critical needs of public schools’ 

Butler’s firsthand experience in public schools gives her a unique perspective on the bill, which would place multiple requirements and burdens on districts as well as homeschoolers. 

“During my years teaching in CPS, I witnessed the daily struggles of a district stretched beyond its limits. Administrators, teachers and school personnel were consistently overwhelmed by staff shortages, behavioral concerns and funding that never seemed to reach the classroom.” 

However, this legislation “would exacerbate these pressures by creating unnecessary paperwork, compliance monitoring and truancy enforcement demands at the local school level — without providing new resources,” she wrote. 

“It diverts precious time, money and energy away from the critical needs of public schools that already fail far too many children.” 

Protecting students from abuse 

Butler takes issue with claims from the bill’s proponents that homeschooling can lead to child abuse. 

“National research indicates that homeschooling environments actually reduce the likelihood of child abuse due to increased parental engagement, stronger family bonds and more attentive adult supervision,” she writes. 

“Conversely, data from Psychology Today reveals that 10% of public school students experience educator sexual misconduct, highlighting that abuse risks are unfortunately present in traditional settings.” 

Even if such legislation passes, it has no power to stop crimes happening in secret, according to Butler. 

“Why would ill-intentioned parents, already hiding abusive behaviors, willingly comply with newly imposed administrative burdens?” 

Instead of “injecting unnecessary fear and distrust” into homeschool communities, lawmakers should focus on strengthening family bonds and parental empowerment across all educational models – including public schools, Butler argues. 

“Families choose homeschooling because it allows them to tailor education to the unique needs, strengths and aspirations of their children. We are reclaiming a tradition of educational empowerment and community-based learning that has been an essential tool for black success since newly emancipated people set up schoolhouses all over the post-slavery South.” 

‘Community, confidence and reassurance’ through learning communities 

As a homeschool mother of six, Butler has also discovered the power of collaborative learning environments. 

“Through my leadership of WeSchool Academy, a supportive learning community I founded to empower homeschooling families, I regularly witness transformations: academic challenges turning into strengths, behavior issues resolving and joy for learning blossoming,” she writes. “Families are finding community, confidence and reassurance.” 

In addition to Butler’s program, similar models are sprouting up throughout the nation. 

For example, the Black Homeschoolers of Central Florida (BHCFL) offers tutoring services, field trips and other resources to families who find encouragement in meeting regularly with others. 

The group started 15 years ago and just opened a resource center in the fall of 2024. 

“To be able to have a space that you can actually have everything out, have a place that you can go to your office and take care of business, it’s just a blessing,” said Rasheeda Denning, who founded BHCFL. 

“I’ve been homeschooling for 26 years, and we would go to different homeschooling conventions and different things like that. There would be 10,000 homeschoolers and we’d be the only black family.” 

In contrast to stereotypes of homeschool isolation, groups like BHCFL can help children develop relational skills in safe and welcoming communities, said Florida mom Lisa Abraham. 

“One question when you talk about kids, when they’re doing homeschooling, is the socialization, whether or not they have the ability to socialize with other kids,” she said. “And being a part of an organization like this, you’re bringing them to other kids who are homeschooled as well.” 

Undermining ‘self-determination and family-oriented education’ 

These types of communities would come under fire if the Illinois bill passes into law, Butler argues. 

Public-school districts would have power to demand educational materials from parents and gather private information on every homeschooled child it contacts. 

Homeschoolers could be threatened with legal action “for missing a filing deadline or misunderstanding bureaucratic regulations,” Butler writes. 

The bill also gives districts the ability to set up ad-hoc courts for sentencing parents who failed to follow all the regulations, bypassing the usual judicial process. 

Homeschool advocates such as the Home School Legal Defense Association have expressed strong concerns over these courts, which could decree jail time or forcible removal of children from parents’ homes as penalties. 

“This legislation deeply undermines self-determination and family-oriented education,” Butler writes, “the very ideals that make homeschooling so empowering and which hold the key to success even for the public system.”