The US Senate education committee unanimously advanced a bill to recognize homeschool graduates at the federal level last Thursday, and the full Senate will now consider the bill. HSLDA worked with legislators behind the scenes to get Senate Bill 3747 introduced, and it was sponsored by senators Ashley Moody (FL) and Jim Banks (IN).

The bill’s passage out of committee on February 26 follows unanimous passage of its companion bill, H.R. 6392, in the U.S. House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee in December.

You can read about that victory here.

“HSLDA strongly supports the Home School Graduation Recognition Act. It will ensure homeschool graduates are treated equally by clarifying that they meet the definition of high school graduates for federal student aid purposes,” HSLDA President Jim Mason said. “It will eliminate ambiguity and prevent ongoing misinterpretation in this area."

Every year, HSLDA handles scores of cases for homeschool graduates who are being denied employment opportunities and enrollment in trade schools because officials wrongly assume that they are not high school graduates—making this bill essential to protect graduates from discrimination and ensure their diplomas are recognized. Similar problems also regularly surface in a small minority of colleges and universities.

Homeschooling is truly bipartisan

We have been thrilled to see the bipartisan and unanimous committee support, both for these two bills and for homeschooling families in Congress. At the Senate education committee session (which you can watch here), Chair Bill Cassidy (LA), Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (VT), and committee member Tim Kaine (VA) all spoke favorably about the bill, and about homeschooling.

This follows favorable comments about homeschooling from both sides of the aisle at the December 11 House committee hearing (which you can watch here).

Why are S.B. 3747 and H.R. 6392 Necessary?

As homeschooling grew in popularity during the 1980s and 1990s, increasing numbers of homeschool graduates caused questions to arise about the validity of the parent-issued transcripts and diplomas, and whether they qualified for federal student aid or could be admitted to colleges and universities.

In response, HSLDA worked with Congress to amend the Higher Education Act in 1998, which made it clear that homeschool high school graduates are eligible for federal student aid. However, confusing language regarding the eligibility of homeschool students remains in place, and it continues to present a problem for graduates.

For decades, we have seen trade schools and other institutes of higher education refuse to accept homeschool graduates into their programs. Typically this treatment of homeschool students is motivated by fears that homeschool graduates don’t qualify for federal aid.

S.B. 3747 and H.R. 6392 will fix this problem once and for all by removing this discriminatory header in the Higher Education Act. Both bills are now pending action by the full Senate and full House, respectively. This bill sends a simple message: homeschool graduates deserve equal recognition under the law.

Congress has the opportunity to ensure that homeschool graduates should not ever be denied opportunities because of outdated or confusing federal language.