The state’s Department of Education said in written testimony Tuesday that it won’t be able to comply with a bill that, if passed, would require notification to Connecticut’s child welfare agency when kids are pulled out of public school to be homeschooled.
Senate Bill 6, an omnibus bill, in part responds to safety concerns raised after the highly publicized death of Jacqueline “Mimi” Torres-García, an 11-year-old whose body was found in a plastic container in New Britain, and the case of a Waterbury man who was allegedly locked away for decades, beginning in childhood. In both cases, parents had said they were homeschooling the children.
The bill would require that local districts alert the state Department of Education when children are withdrawn from public school. The department would then notify the Department of Children and Families, and that agency would check whether the family has any open cases with DCF.
Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker said in written testimony that the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — FERPA — prevents the department from disclosing students’ information without parents’ permission except for “evaluation and research purposes, not for individual case management.”
“Any violation of federal law places millions of federal educational dollars in jeopardy,” Russell-Tucker wrote. “As such, the Department will be unable to comply with this proposal should it become law.”
Committee co-Chair Sen. Ceci Maher, D-Wilton, said in an interview that she disagrees with that interpretation of the law. She said there’s a section of the federal law that “allows for the welfare of the child,” which would mean S.B. 6 could be legally enforced.
Interim DCF Commissioner Susan Hamilton said the portion of the large bill that requires the education department to notify DCF is not a proposal from the agency.
“It’s not a report of alleged mental abuse,” Hamilton said. “It’s a notification. What the bill would call for is for us to look to see whether or not we have an open case, and if we do, it would just get noted in the record that the child is withdrawn from school.”
Homeschooling regulations have been a hot-button political issue in recent months. On Tuesday, dozens of homeschoolers attended the public hearing only to be sent home because of wintry weather. The committee held the first hour of its meeting, which was taken up by Hamilton’s testimony, in person. Afterward, attendees went home to virtually attend an online meeting.
Homeschoolers broadly opposed that section of the bill, saying it would violate their rights. Committee member Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Wolcott, said it would result in a “witch hunt” against homeschoolers.
Attorney Deborah Stevenson, who represents the National Home Education Legal Defense, urged lawmakers in her written testimony to remove the bill section.
She said the notification “is an unconstitutional outrage, removing the presumption of innocence of every parent in this State.”
The Office of the Child Advocate was in favor of the measure. Last year, the office issued a report showing that Connecticut has some of the laxest homeschool regulations in the country.
Child Advocate Christina Ghio said in written testimony that the measure “would serve as a check and ensure that DCF is made aware of the withdrawals of children whose families have an open case with the Department.”
Maher said that after DCF checks for open cases with families that withdraw their children from public school, she hopes that the department would not keep a file or database of names. She said the bill is narrow in scope.
“This is a case of just trying to make sure that what happened in the Mimi case, where there was an intent to harm and homeschooling was used as a smokescreen, that that does not happen again,” Maher said.
S.B. 6 also would take steps to increase oversight and transparency of DCF, provide free school breakfasts and lunches and implement a child tax credit, among other measures.