Push to register home schooled children in Michigan prompts families to shove back (2024)

After 24 years of home schooling all four of her children, Katie Zeilenga has zero regrets — and zero interest in seeing Michigan become a state that requires families like hers to register their education decision.

"After our first year, we were hooked and never looked back," said Zeilenga, a former public school teacher who lives in Kalamazoo. "We found out that learning is not a one-way street. It looks different for every person, and homeschooling was the best place to allow for learning to flourish, without distractions and without interruption."

Zeilenga is a part of a coalition from across the state resisting a push to register homeschooled children in Michigan, one of 11 remaining states that do not require such reporting.

Mandating homeschooled children to be registered with the Michigan Department of Education, Zeilenga said, offers no academic or safety benefits for the students themselves and would not stop child abuse in homes where students are outside the traditional public school system.

"Homeschoolers need to be left alone to continue doing what we do best. Our constitution tells us that we are the ones who determine the education of our children," Zeilenga said. "Any person that chooses to harm a child is going to do this no matter what and homeschool registries or regulations will not stop this form of evil."

The push has come from Attorney General Dana Nessel and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Michael Rice, both of whom are seeking state oversight of homeschooled students.

Nessel called for the monitoring after announcing 36 criminal child abuse charges against two Lansing-area couples who homeschooled their children.

"As a former child abuse prosecutor, AG Nessel has seen the myriad ways that children can fall through the cracks, resulting in traumatic abuse and even death," Nessel's spokeswoman Kimberly Bush told The Detroit News. "Children who attend in-person school have daily contact with court-mandated reporters and other students, which makes exposing any abuse or neglect that may be happening within the home much easier."

"In homeschool settings, that is may not the case, and as such the AG supports expanded measures to help protect children and identify abuse in the home. She believes encouraging more oversight with homeschooling so that those children are offered the same protections may be one of the measures Michigan can take," Bush said.

Last month, Rice asked state lawmakers to create a state registry of students outside traditional public schools. Rice's request, made Jan. 10, was framed as a measure of safety for all children including private, parochial and home schools and referenced recent statistics about students who have left the state's public school system.

"The issue of 'missing children' is a national problem with potential negative consequences for too many children," Rice said in his letter. "However, there is a history in Michigan and across the nation of some children not receiving any education at all, in particularly egregious cases in abusive or neglected environments. Knowing where all children are enrolled in an educational setting is an issue of student safety."

Both pleas came after reporting by the Washington Post about a former Michigan child who died from abuse. His stepmother told authorities he was homeschooled.

Number of homeschoolers unknown

Homeschooling has soared across the nation, especially after the pandemic pushed children out of school buildings and as parental dissatisfaction grew with COVID-related measures, curriculum and a perceived lack of control over their children's education.

Many Michigan families also beganhomeschooling during the pandemic. Others have been doing so for decades.

Under Michigan's current rules, homeschooled children are exempt from attending public school and not required to report as a nonpublic school student if "the child is being educated at the child's home by his or her parent or legal guardian in an organized educational program in the subject areas of reading, spelling, mathematics, science, history, civics, literature, writing, and English grammar," according to the Michigan Department of Education.

Local school districts and intermediate school districts are responsible for interpreting and enforcing the state's Compulsory School Attendance Law, which requires children ages 6 to 18 to enroll in school.

There are no minimum qualifications for homeschool teachers, except that they must be the parents or legal guardians of the children. The homeschool family must provide "an organized educational program" in the nine subject areas under state law.

It's not clear how many students are homeschooled in Michigan, because only some families and schools self-identify with the state voluntarily.

According to the state Education Department, 732 students in Michigan are enrolled as homeschoolers. But one homeschool advocate says the number is far higher— as many as 50,000 students across the state.

Israel Wayne, vice president of the Michigan Christian Homeschool Network, said his nonprofit represents 11,000 families, representing about 30,000 homeschool students. Wayne estimated there are 50,000 homeschooled students in Michigan and 400 local homeschool groups that collaborate over the educational needs of children.

"There is no list of homeschoolers in Michigan. There are no reporting requirements to the state or local reporting," Wayne said. "We don’t see that it's necessary for people to have an exact head count of homeschoolers in Michigan. From our viewpoint, education is really something that is the choice and prerogative of parents, as opposed as something controlled by the government."

Michigan's lawmakers should focus on problems within the state's public school system, such as underperforming schools and low reading and math proficiency scores among students who left the system, he said.

"Legislators should focus on fixing what they know is a massive deficit in the schools before they reach out to regulate homeschool or nonpublic schools that do a far better job than public schools on average," Wayne said.

He said he has not heard of or seen any formal proposals from lawmakers to require registration, but he believes that with the 54-54 tie in the Michigan House, any proposal will not come forward until Democrats have regained a majority to introduce it. Democrats are favored to pick up two seats in April's special general elections.

"This is really about recruiting kids back into public schools and a desire to control the type of education outside public schools. It's not the government's job what gets taught in home schools or even who the students are being taught there," Wayne said.

Registration bill 'possible'

State Sen. Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, chair of the Senate Education Committee and one of several lawmakers who has called for mandatory kindergarten in Michigan, said it's important that the state know whether all children are being educated in a school setting.

Polehanki recalled asking state Education Department officials years ago, while researching the kindergarten bill, how many children were not attending kindergarten. The officials said they didn't know because they can't count homeschoolers or private schoolers who don't get state aid.

"And that is a problem for me when I can't get a simple question answered about how many kids attend kindergarten in our state," Polehanki said. "I think Rice is correct in his assumption that there are kids out there not being educated at all."

Polehanki said a bill calling for homeschool registration is "probably" going to be introduced, and she is "probably" going to give it a hearing, but she didn't want to identify the lawmaker introducing it, saying it is not her place to do so.

"Someone is already introducing it. I can't say who," Polehanki said. "If they knew my head and mind, they would have nothing to worry about. I don't see this going beyond registration."

State Rep. Matt Koleszar posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Dec. 5 that Michigan is one of 11 states that doesn’t count or register homeschooled children and "abusive parents are taking advantage of that to avoid being found out. It’s time to support all Michigan students and change that. Michigan cannot allow this loophole to continue."

Koleszar, D-Plymouth, chair of the House Education Committee, did not return calls seeking comment.

Michigan's lost students

The push for registering homeschooled children comes after Michigan has lost 131,482 students since the state had 1.51 million students in grades K-12 nearly a decade ago. The decrease has been attributed to declining birth rates, population losses and a move toward nonpublic schools for some families.

The share of Michigan's school-age children enrolled in nonpublic schools grew to nearly 7% statewide with about 101,237 students attending a nonpublic school in the 2022-23 school year, which is 10,261 more than the year before.

Nonpublic schools, including religious-based and independent schools, self-report data to the state if they accept some form of public funds by using or sharing public school teachers or programs for their own students. The data includes enrollment by grade, the number of teachers on staff broken down by degree and whether the school teaches Michigan history and the U.S. Constitution.

Improving the state’s processes and accountability measures will go a long way toward making sure that every Michigan child receives the education they need and deserve, said Tina Kerr, executive director of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators.

"Unfortunately, the number of ‘missing children’ in Michigan has increased significantly — especially post-pandemic — and we need to find them," Kerr said. "While it’s absolutely a matter of ensuring their safety and well-being, it’s also about ensuring every child has equitable access to learn."

The ability of parents to homeschool their child outside the reach of state government in Michigan is an issue that resonates with State Board of Education member Nikki Snyder, R-Dexter, who has attacked Rice's request.

"We will strongly fight against any attempt to implement state-sanctioned bullying campaigns against Michigan families and support parents in their decision to exercise choices that do not rely on the oversight of a system already failing to protect students," Snyder said in a press release.

Focus on finding abused kids?

Shantelle Gerkin, a mother of four children in Traverse City including one child who is being homeschooled this year, said she is on the fence about registering. Gerkin also is a teacher in her homeschool group, called the Homeschool Enrichment Network.

Gerkin started homeschooling her 8-year-old son in December after she said he was mistreated in his public school environment. Now, she wishes she could homeschool all four of her children, two of whom attend public high school.

"We should be giving our kids academics and creating well-rounded children that are going into our communities," Gerkin said. "I feel like with my older kids, they are incredibly intelligent. I see they are not challenged enough. And they are lacking in support in areas they are not excelling in. I would love to homeschool them so I can meet those needs and provide life experiences."

Registration of homeschool students would open a can of worms, Gerkin said, prompting her to wonder if the state would send in staff to home schools to check on children or the home environment.

"As a parent, I don’t receive any support from the government to homeschool my child. If you want to count my child, then I want the same support as provided to public schools kids in forms of grants and tax breaks. All of this is out of my pocket," she said.

If the proposed legislation is coming from concern for abused children, Gerkin said, state leaders should focus on mandatory reporting laws and enforcement of Child Protective Service rules that require workers to check on children in homes where abuse or neglect is suspected.

"I don’t like (that) they are using missing children and abused children to pull on the heartstrings of people," Gerkin said. "We all have compassion. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have concerns about children."

jchambers@detroitnews.com