House Education and Workforce Committee Advances HSLDA’s Home School Bill

On December 11, the Committee on Education and the Workforce for the U.S. House of Representatives passed HSLDA’s bill, H.R. 6392, the Home School Graduation Recognition Act, sponsored by Rep. Mark Harris (North Carolina). The bill now moves to the house floor to be voted on by the full House of Representatives.

While a majority of homeschool graduates never encounter any issues, HSLDA deals with hundreds of cases each year all over the country in which homeschool graduates are denied employment, entry to trade schools, and other opportunities based on the erroneous claim that they are not high school graduates.

 “The Home School Graduation Recognition Act will eliminate ambiguity, prevent ongoing misinterpretation, and ensure equal treatment for homeschool graduates by clarifying that homeschool graduates meet the definition of high school graduates for federal student aid purposes,” stated HSLDA President Jim Mason. “HSLDA strongly supports this legislation.”

Why is H.R. 6392 Necessary?

As homeschooling grew in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, homeschool students began to graduate from their families’ homeschool programs. Their parents issued them high school transcripts and diplomas. But questions began to arise: were these homeschool graduates eligible for federal student aid? Could they be admitted to colleges and universities?

To protect homeschool graduates from discrimination, HSLDA worked with our friends in Congress to amend the Higher Education Act in 1998. This groundbreaking amendment made it clear that homeschool high school graduates are eligible for federal student aid.

But there was a wrinkle: homeschooling was still looked upon with suspicion even in 1998, and Congress put the eligibility language for homeschool students under a heading intended for students “Who Are Not High School Graduates.” This header language has caused confusion for decades, even while the underlying law and guidance from the US Department of Education made it clear that homeschool high school graduates are eligible for federal student aid. We have seen instances where institutions of higher education, most notably trade schools, cosmetology schools, and the University of Phoenix, refuse to accept homeschool high school graduates, most often motivated by fear that homeschool graduates are not technically high school graduates for the purposes of federal law.

H.R. 6392 will fix this problem once and for all by removing this discriminatory header in the Higher Education Act.

At the December 11 committee meeting (which you can watch here), Rep. Mark Harris gave powerful testimony in support of his bill and read into the record HSLDA’s letter of support. Then Rep. Lucy McBath (Georgia) from Atlanta, spoke beautifully about her own journey as a homeschooling mom. She was followed by Rep. Mary Miller (Illinois), a homeschooling mom, Ranking Member Bobby Scott (Virginia), then Rep. Kevin Kiley (California), all of whom spoke in favor.

After this, Committee Chairman Tim Walberg took the rare privilege as chairman to speak in favor of H.R. 6392. He shared how he and his wife homeschooled their three children.

The final speaker was Rep. Bob Onder (Missouri) who said he and his wife homeschooled their children, and he also spoke in support of H.R. 6392.

The bill passed unanimously, and now heads to the full House of Representatives. HSLDA strongly supports this bill, and we urge it to be swiftly passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump.