Connecticut Democrats push homeschooling, vaccine bills in final weeks of session
Lawmakers were poised Thursday to advance controversial bills on vaccines and homeschooling, as dozens of families came to the capitol on opposition.
The House of Representatives began debate Thursday evening on a stripped-down version of a bill on homeschooling oversight, largely focusing on notification when families want to withdraw a child from school.
The Senate, meanwhile, engaged in a lengthy debate over a vaccine bill that Democrats say is intended to ensure people can access vaccines.
Both debates were ongoing as of 6:30 p.m. The House of Representatives already approved the vaccine bill by an 89-60 vote on Tuesday, meaning it would go to Gov. Ned Lamont if approved by the Senate.
The homeschooling bill also originated in the House and would need to follow the same path.
“It’s trying to create one layer of a safety net that currently doesn’t exist,” Rep. Jennifer Leeper (D-Fairfield) said about the amended bill.
It would require all families to notify the state each year how they are educating their children, although attendance in a public or private school would satisfy that requirement.
Homeschooling families would need that notice. A withdrawal from a school would also result in a check by the Department of Children and Families (DCF).
Families who are the subject of an active DCF case or who are on an abuse-related registry would not be allowed to withdraw their children.
The review would not occur again unless a family re-enrolls a child in school and withdraws them.
The bill no longer requires families to provide proof that they are providing an education equivalent to what is offered in public schools.
“We were trying to create that framework, and we were trying to do it slowly and thoughtfully, but it was a little too ambitious for year one,” Leeper said.
Republicans, though, expressed concern that Democrats will revisit the idea in the years ahead.
“It’s the first step to regulate homeschool,” Rep. Vincent Candelora (R-Minority Leader) said. “The next step is curriculum review, and that is where families start to object.”
The bill comes after three high-profile cases over the last year involving children who were withdrawn from school, but later died or alleged they experienced neglect and abuse.
DCF was also involved with all three families. Homeschoolers objecting to the bill said the legislature should focus on reforming the agency.
“Those people all had open DCF cases, and nothing was done about it. I want to know how this bill is going to help,” Philip Tummescheit, of West Hartford, said.
The legislature is considering a separate bill focused on reforms and training for DCF, but it has not yet received a vote in either chamber.
Many of those families also voiced their opposition to the vaccine bill, which would give the public health commissioner more freedom to set state vaccine recommendations.
The bill would allow the commissioner to deviate from CDC guidance when other medical groups, such as the American Medical Association, agree with the state’s stance.
Democrats said the bill would allow the state to help ensure patients have access to vaccines.
“We want to make sure that we make the best decisions for our people, and the people who choose to be on the vaccines, they can buy the vaccines,” Sen. Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor).
The bill would also state that Connecticut’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not exempt families from complying with school immunization requirements.
A 2021 law removing the religious exemption is being challenged in court, and Democrats said the current bill is meant to express their intention in that law. Republicans objected to the language.
“This continues to take away people’s religious beliefs and trample on that, and that’s wrong,” Sen. Jeff Gordon (R-Woodstock) said.
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