Latest Updates
Feb. 25 | Bills introduced, assigned to committee
S.B. 972 was introduced on February 17 by Senator Amy Grady and was assigned to the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee.
H.B. 5669 was introduced on February 17 by Delegate Fluharty and was assigned to the House Education Committee.
Please contact members of the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee and the House Education Committee and let them know you oppose these bills.
Summary of S.B. 972 and H.B. 5669
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. 116 here.
These bills would prohibit a parent from withdrawing their child from the public school if an allegation of abuse or neglect was either ongoing or was made around the time they attempted to withdraw their child from school.
While the stated intention of each of these bills is to prevent the possibility of child abuse, the restriction on homeschooling would occur without probable cause or due process. They would also restrict parents from making timely decisions about their children’s education and welfare.
Many parents who withdraw their child to homeschool them in the middle of the school year do so because their child is being bullied or abused in the public school or because of a chronic physical or mental health issue. HSLDA often hears from parents who have tried everything to resolve the issue within the school, but officials are either unwilling to make accommodations for the child or unable to protect them from the behavior of others within the school system. Delaying withdrawal for the sake of a maltreatment investigation could mean that children struggling academically in traditional schools will continue to fall behind, while those facing bullying or abuse in the traditional school setting will remain in an unsafe environment.
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.