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Heated hearing on HB 54-68 pits homeschooling families against child-welfare advocates
Summary
A long Connecticut Education Committee hearing on HB 54-68 drew hundreds of public commenters who split between parents urging rejection as unconstitutional and advocates calling for narrow checks to prevent children from slipping out of sight. Speakers debated privacy, DCF capacity, SERC review and what “equivalent instruction” would mean in practice.
Hartford — Dozens of parents, students and advocates stayed late into the night Tuesday to testify before the Connecticut General Assembly Education Committee on House Bill 54-68, a proposal that would expand state oversight of children withdrawn from public schools and require demonstrations of “equivalent instruction.”
The hearing turned into a broad clash over parental rights, child safety and administrative capacity. Homeschooling parents and graduates described individualized instruction, religious liberty and difficult choices that led families out of public schools. A number of speakers warned that the bill would create new paperwork, force families to interact with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and risk erroneous investigations.
"Leave our homeschool alone and oppose HB45468," said 9-year-old Alex Dawe, who testified about travel, language studies and community service offered through his family’s home education program. Several parents said the state’s public-school proficiency rates and the workload of…
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