Protect Nebraska’s homeschooled children — say no to LB 1027

Under current Nebraska law, home educators can operate their schools as private schools, and they’re only required to file enrollment paperwork — a simple form for each child that includes an executive summary of the academic calendar and the student’s birth certificate. LB 1027 would eliminate all but the basic contact form, which is a problem for two reasons. First, having a birth certificate makes certain types of identification abuse impossible in Nebraska. Second, asking parents to write an overview of their academic calendar is a low bar, and responsible home educators are doing much more than that.

Under current Nebraska law, school districts and Health & Human Services can look into possible educational neglect in homeschool settings. They don’t have the adequate resources to follow up on those complaints, but the option does exist. In at least one case, Nebraska prevented a homeschooling parent from going on to homeschool her younger child after they discovered she had been torturing her eldest. If LB 1027 passes, Nebraska would not have the power to investigate and therefore stop heinous child abuse.

At CRHE, we often hear from divorced or separated parents trying to advocate for their child who is being neglected by their homeschooling co-parent. In many states, a co-parent in a shared custody arrangement has no power to make choices for their child’s education. However, under current Nebraska, parents have to make these decisions together. LB 1027 would radically change this arrangement and give one parent unilateral power to make one-sided decisions about homeschooling without input. A child needs everyone in the family on board for homeschooling to work.