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Committee advances bill protecting learning pods for homeschool families
Summary
The subcommittee advanced House Bill 87, the "Learning Pod Protection Act," which would prohibit state and local regulation of parent-run learning pods and count participation toward compulsory attendance.
The K-12 Subcommittee voted to send House Bill 87, as amended, to full education after adopting amendment 5326 and hearing sponsor Chairman Slater explain the measure’s scope.
Chairman Slater said, “House Bill 87 enacts the learning pod protection act. It does 3 things. It authorizes parents to voluntarily participate in learning pods … Secondly, it prohibits the state, local governments, and local education agencies from regulating or controlling a learning pod. And then thirdly, it establishes that a child who participates in a learning pod satisfies the compulsory school attendance requirements.”
During questions, Representative Hakeem asked whether the bill related to virtual learning; Slater replied, “This relates to students who are homeschooled. And when a homeschool family gets together with another homeschool family, then what this does is that it calls that a learning pod.”
The clerk recorded five ayes and the chair announced, “With 5 ayes, the House Bill 87 does move on to full education.” The committee did not discuss implementation details such as registration, oversight mechanisms, or funding during the floor explanation recorded in the transcript.
The bill as described would (1) recognize cooperative learning arrangements among homeschooling families, (2) bar state or local regulation of those pods, and (3) treat participation as meeting compulsory attendance requirements for the child under state law.
