***Update 3.23.26 – HB1823 has been scheduled to be heard in the House Education Committee on March 24th. Contact information for the committee member can be found below.***
Image Credit: TN General Assembly
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
After already passing on the Senate floor in a unanimous vote on Monday, a truancy bill that is fiercely opposed by Homeschool families in Tennessee as well as national homeschool advocacy group Home School Legal Defense Association is now advancing in the House.
On Tuesday, the legislation passed in the House Education Administration Subcommittee in a 4 to 0 vote and now heads to the House Education Committee.
Should the bill pass in this committee, it will then go to the House floor for a final vote.
Sponsored by Representative Kevin Raper (R-Cleveland-District 24), House Bill 1823 as amended requires that attendance records be maintained for the entirety of the school year for a student transferring or withdrawing from a public school and that the number of unexcused absences accumulated at the previous school be made part of the student’s record at a new school so that the appropriate tier of a progressive truancy plan can be implemented, should the number of absences require intervention.
Tennessee Homeschool Advocacy group Free Your Children (FYC) has stated that the legislation gives juvenile judges permission to deny a parent’s constitutional right to homeschool.
An example of this happened in 2023 in Coffee County when a Juvenile Court Judge ordered a homeschooled student back to public school.
Contact information for members of the House Education Committee may be found below.
House Education Committee – HB1823 scheduled to be heard March 24
HB1823 codifies into law the ability for a juvenile judge to determine a child’s educational path.
Rep.mark.white@capitol.tn.gov; rep.kevin.raper@capitol.tn.gov; rep.jody.barrett@capitol.tn.gov; rep.charlie.baum@capitol.tn.gov; rep.gino.bulso@capitol.tn.gov; rep.scott.cepicky@capitol.tn.gov; rep.ronnie.glynn@capitol.tn.gov; rep.yusuf.hakeem@capitol.tn.gov; rep.kirk.haston@capitol.tn.gov; rep.tim.hicks@capitol.tn.gov; rep.chris.hurt@capitol.tn.gov; rep.gloria.johnson@capitol.tn.gov; rep.renea.jones@capitol.tn.gov; rep.aron.maberry@capitol.tn.gov; rep.sam.mckenzie@capitol.tn.gov; rep.jay.reedy@capitol.tn.gov; rep.lee.reeves@capitol.tn.gov; rep.william.slater@capitol.tn.gov; rep.robert.stevens@capitol.tn.gov
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
4 Responses
Thanx, emailed committee, “Re. HB1823 anti homeschooling “judges” bill;
I’m definitely against this given the “judges” we have today.
Would like to see some stats on this issue. Is this a solution to a problem or a solution in search of one?
Thanx, emailed committee, again, “We have many evil, incompetent “judges”.
Please vote NO!!”
First Note…. My wife homeschooled our three children, the oldest daughter scored the highest SAT score in the South Carolina history when testing to get her GED for college. So yes, I’m a little bias…..on with the rant…….
Yeah…. go ahead and pick on the homeschoolers… if only the public schoolers were as well educated as the homeschoolers we might be getting somewhere….Or better yet if only you legislators were homeschooled you might be smart enough to see you are fools….Homeschoolers do not have “attendance problems” in the conventional sense Public schools face a genuine, persistent crisis of chronic absenteeism affecting millions, with clear negative impacts on achievement. Many families turn to homeschooling after public school attendance failures. Oh just pick on homeschoolers you know the ones that are the ones that generally outperform public school students on standardized academic tests, with consistent advantages of 15–25 percentile points across multiple studies. Public school averages hover around the 50th percentile, while homeschooled students typically score in the 65th–80th percentile range. Standardized achievement tests (e.g., Iowa Tests, Stanford, CAT): Homeschoolers score 15–25 (sometimes up to 30) percentile points higher. This holds across subjects like reading, math, language, and social studies. SAT: Homeschool averages around 1190 vs. ~1060 for public school students. ACT: Homeschoolers often score 22–23 vs. national public-school average of ~21. A systematic review by NHERI indicates that 78% of peer-reviewed studies (or ~63% in updated tallies) show homeschool students performing statistically significantly better than institutional school students. Only a small fraction favor public schools. Homeschoolers punch above their weight in the National Spelling Bee, with four confirmed national titles and frequent high placements despite low overall numbers (approx. 2%).
Chronic absenteeism: Nationally ~23–26% of K-12 students in 2024–2025, down from a pandemic peak of ~28–31% in 2021–22 but still well above the pre-pandemic baseline of ~13–15%. This means roughly 1 in 4–5 students misses enough days to harm learning. Rates remain elevated in many states (e.g., ~19–25% in large samples). Average Daily Attendance (ADA): Typically, 90–93% in recent years, meaning ~7–10% of enrolled students are absent on any given day.
No traditional absenteeism metric: Homeschooling is parent-directed and flexible. There is no mandatory “school days,” fixed schedules, or daily roll calls. Parents control pacing, often completing equivalent or more instructional time through customized days, field trips, co-ops, or year-round learning. Many homeschoolers effectively have higher “seat time” or engaged learning hours than distracted public school classrooms.
Homeschoolers do not have “attendance problems” in the conventional sense Public schools face a genuine, persistent crisis of chronic absenteeism affecting millions, with clear negative impacts on achievement. Many families turn to homeschooling after public school attendance failures.