The law governing education in Nebraska just got a lot less ominous—that’s according to longtime homeschooling parents and advocates in the state.

In mid-April, Governor Jim Pillen approved legislation that eliminates highly restrictive but rarely used provisions for homeschool oversight that were among the most stringent in the nation. These restrictions existed as vestiges of reform to Nebraska homeschool law enacted in 1984.

Working with Dave Lohstroh of Nebraska Christian Home Educators Association, HSLDA Staff Attorney Kevin Boden helped craft legislative language for a new homeschool law that focuses on freedom.

Threats of Jail Time

Dave Lostroh, who with his wife Lorraine began homeschooling the first of their nine children in 1981, remembers the tumultuous days before the law changed. In that era, parents who homeschooled according to the dictates of their conscience faced threats of jail time and having their kids taken by authorities.

The 1984 reform recognized homeschooling as a form of private education. But the state Department of Education still retained powerful enforcement tools.

“It was tolerable, but it was always a little scary,” Dave said about the 1984 law.

‘Likely to Fail’

The enforcement tools the state retained (and which the law passed this year eliminated) included the power to:

  • Arbitrarily demand that homeschool students take achievement tests
  • Demand that individual parents prove their competency to homeschool by taking subject matter tests
  • Demand access to individual homes to inspect how schooling is conducted there
  • Review curriculum used

Dave believes state officials held on to these enforcement tools in the 1980s because they had little faith that this emergent education option would succeed.

“The idea was that homeschoolers were likely to fail,” he explained. So legislative and education officials told themselves they “needed these powers.”

Clarity on the Law

Still, Dave said that the priority immediately after the homeschool law passed in 1984 was to restrain the Department of Education from forcing parents to prove their ability to teach or to insist on visiting families in their homes.

By 1987 the attorney general ruled that the Department of Education could only interfere with homeschool programs in rare instances where evidence showed egregious deficiencies.

In other words, said Dave, “The Department can’t just do this willy-nilly.”

In the decades since, parents have proven their ability to raise children who can take their place in society as responsible, productive citizens.

“It took a while for homeschooling to develop a substantial track record of good results,” Dave reflected. But once homeschoolers proved their mettle, “That really changed things.”

Working with Nebraska Christian Home Educators Association ( NCHEA), where he serves as director and legislative coordinator, Dave asked the state attorney general’s office in 2015 to provide further guidance on when and how state education officials could employ these homeschool oversight tools in the regulations.

Meanwhile, NCHEA and its constituents continued to advocate for further changes to homeschool law. Homeschool families forged ties with lawmakers by visiting them during NCHEA’s annual legislative day at the capitol and through vigorous grassroots advocacy.

By this year, the time seemed right to press for more positive legislation.

Making a Change

Dave worked with Boden to draft legislative language that met homeschoolers’ aims while being likely to gain the favor of state lawmakers. Nebraska State Senator Robert Clements sponsored the bill.

NCHEA then launched a campaign to rally support for the bill. The organization sent 11 different emails to 1,700 families, tracking the progress of the measure and requesting action at strategic moments. NCHEA also asked for a big turnout on legislative day in February on behalf of the bill.

“We filled essentially all the available seating,” Dave said.

And they were successful. The new law is scheduled to take effect in July.

Another important change involves the amount of documentation homeschool families will be required to file every year. Home School Legal Defense Association will update its summary of Nebraska homeschool law to reflect these developments. 

HSLDA members can also contact our legal team for insight into how the new law applies to their individual situation.