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Feb. 25 | Bills introduced, assigned to committee
S.B. 116 was introduced on January 14 by Senator Garcia and was assigned to the Senate Education Committee. Please contact members of the Senate Education Committee and let them know you oppose this bill.
Summary of S.B. 116
Three bills similar have been introduced (S.B. 972, H.B. 5669, and S.B. 116) in West Virginia, all containing Raylee’s Law. You can read more about S.B. 972 and H.B. 5669 here.
Senate Bill 116 would prohibit a county school board from authorizing a public school student from being instructed at home if there was a pending child abuse or neglect investigation that is initiated by a schoolteacher or other school personnel. The bill would require the school superintendent to implement a policy to make sure school personnel notify him/her whenever a report is made.
While the stated intention of this bill is to prevent the possibility of child abuse, the restriction on homeschooling would occur without probable cause or due process. It would also restrict parents from making timely decisions about their children’s education and welfare.
These bills assume that the mere allegation of abuse or neglect should prevent a parent from beginning to homeschool their child. Yet the West Virginia Department of Human Services, the agency responsible for investigating abuse and neglect, acknowledges that only 8.5 percent of the more than 100,000 reports made to that agency since the middle of 2023 were ultimately deemed to be substantiated. That means that over 91 percent of all reports over the last two and a half years were unsubstantiated or false. These two bills would restrict a parent’s fundamental right to educate their child at home because of a report that is unlikely to be true.
In addition, a bad actor who wanted to stop a parent from homeschooling could do so simply by filing a report.
None of these bills are necessary for school officials to intervene if there are legitimate concerns of possible abuse or neglect. Current West Virginia law enables the county superintendent to seek an order from the county circuit court denying home instruction of a child. The court can grant this order upon a showing of clear and convincing evidence that the child will suffer neglect in his or her education or that there are other compelling reasons to deny home instruction.
West Virginia law already encourages any person to make a report to the authorities if that person “has reasonable cause to suspect that a child has been abused or neglected in a home or instruction or observes the child being subjected to conditions or circumstances that would reasonable result in abuse or neglect.”
In American law, we assume that parents are acting in their children’s best interests unless proven otherwise. Homeschooling families deserve to be treated with fairness, respect, and the presumption of innocence.