In April, Gov. Jim Pillen approved legislation that dropped ominous home school rules for both students and their parents. One rule from the Nebraska Department of Education required homeschool students to take achievement tests. A second similar ruled required parents to prove their competency by taking state tests on the subjects they teach.
Additional requirements demanded access to homes to inspect the homeschooling environment and to review the curriculum that is used in the home.
Gov. Pillen, a Republican, was elected governor in 2022.
Karen Bowling of the Nebraska Family Alliance says the home inspection rule was, thankfully, never enforced.
“But it is removed now from the state statute,” she says, referring to the new state law.
According to a related article by the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, that group worked with the Nebraska Christian Home Educators Association to craft legislation that is a less-restrictive homeschool law.
The director of the state homeschool group, Dave Lostroh, told HSLDA the now-gone state law dates back to the 1980s, when parents faced threats of jail time if they chose homeschooling for their children. The idea of homeschooling was misunderstood and viewed with suspicion at the time, he said, but it now has a track record of preparing smart, responsible Nebraskans for adulthood.
Lostroh also shared the new state law dates back to 2015, when he approached the state attorney general’s office for legal guidance on the now-former homeschool law.
When the bill came up for a vote, Bowling says 44 of 49 state senators voted to approve the legislation.
