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ACROSS THE STATES

ILLINOIS

New mental health act

Illinois Senate Bill 1951, recently signed by the governor, consolidates mental health programs and treatments and requires "uniform protocols for implementing screening and assessment of children prior to any admission to an in-patient hospital for psychiatric services." Because this new law does not require automatic mental health assessments for all children—merely for those whose families are seeking medical help for their child's mental health problems—it will not directly affect homeschool families.

However, children attending public school may be partially impacted by the new law because it requires the Illinois State Board of Education to "develop and implement a plan to incorporate social and emotional development standards as part of the Illinois Learning Standards for the purpose of enhancing and measuring children's school readiness and ability to achieve academic success." Home School Legal Defense Association believes the plan applies only to children who will be or are attending public school preschool programs and does not apply to children attending private schools.

Nonetheless, we will carefully watch the implementation of this bill to ensure that no attempt is made to go beyond the new law and mandate that all children follow the "social and emotional developmental standards." The lesson from this bill is, once again, that sending one's children to public school limits parents' rights to control the education and training of their children.

Unlawful requests

HSLDA member families in Lake, McLean, Coles, and Lee counties have received letters from their regional school districts requiring them to fill out and return a Home School Assurance form.* However, homeschools in Illinois fall under the private school law and are not required to submit any type of form to the school district.

Member families who receive this type of illegal and unenforceable request should feel free to ignore it and may contact HSLDA to have us respond to the school district on their behalf.

— by Christopher J. Klicka