Biggins

“We Just Want to Know” — Why That Framing Matters
A Response for Legislators, the Public, and Connecticut Families
Recent public comments—including those made by Patrick Biggins in a Connecticut Education Association discussion—have suggested that the state is simply seeking basic information about homeschool families, framed as:
“We just want you to tell us that you’re homeschooling.”
At first glance, this may sound reasonable.
But it is important to understand what this proposal actually represents—and what it leads to.
 1. This Is Not Just “Information” — It Is Government Registration
Requiring families to report that they are homeschooling is not a neutral act.
It is:

A government registration system

A mechanism that tracks lawful families

A structural change that shifts homeschooling from a right to a monitored status

Once established, this data does not exist in isolation.
It becomes the foundation for:

Monitoring

Compliance checks

Future regulatory expansion

 2. Lawful Behavior Should Not Trigger Government Tracking
In Connecticut, parents are already legally required to educate their children under existing compulsory education law (C.G.S. §10-184).
Homeschooling is:

Lawful

Established

Widely practiced

There is no legal or constitutional basis to treat a lawful parental decision as something that must be reported to the government absent any concern or allegation.
The principle is simple:
The state should not require families to identify themselves for exercising a lawful right.
 3. The “We Need to Know” Argument Relies on a False Connection
The justification offered in the discussion included concerns about “missing children”:
“We have thousands of kids missing from our school systems…”
This framing is deeply misleading.
It combines unrelated categories:

Families who have lawfully chosen alternative education

Students experiencing truancy or disengagement

Families facing housing or immigration instability

There is no evidence that homeschool families are the source of this issue.
Conflating these categories:

Creates unnecessary fear

Misdirects policy

Shifts attention away from actual system failures

 4. Data Collection Does Not Equal Child Safety
There is no credible evidence showing that:

Registration systems prevent abuse

Notification requirements improve outcomes

Tracking lawful families increases child safety

What does improve safety is:

Effective response to actual reports of concern

Proper functioning of existing child protection systems

Creating a database of compliant families does not address failures in those systems.
 5. “Just a Form” Is How Expansion Begins
Policies like this are often presented as minimal:

“Just a form”

“Just once a year”

“Just to help us plan”

But structurally, they are not minimal.
They establish:

A new authority

A new expectation of compliance

A new enforcement pathway

Historically and practically, these systems do not remain static.
They expand.
 6. Planning and Budgeting Do Not Require Family Reporting
The claim that registration is needed for planning or budgeting does not hold up.
State and local governments already:

Estimate population and enrollment trends

Plan based on census, residency, and historical data

There is no demonstrated need to:

Track individual homeschool families

Require disclosure of lawful educational choices

Planning does not require surveillance.
 7. This Is Not About Resistance — It Is About Principle
Homeschool families are not opposed to safety.
They are not opposed to education standards.
They are opposed to:

Being treated as a risk category without cause

Being required to report themselves to the government

Policies built on assumptions rather than evidence

 Bottom Line
The phrase “we just want to know” minimizes what is actually being proposed.
In reality, it is:

A shift toward government tracking of lawful families

A solution in search of a problem

A policy built on mischaracterized data and false connections

Connecticut already has laws in place to:

Require education

Address neglect or abuse

Intervene when there is cause

Expanding government authority over families who are already in compliance does not solve those problems.  A free society does not require families to report themselves to the government for exercising a lawful right.

That principle is worth protecting.

Try fixing the failing public schools before worrying about home educators who are clearly doing a superior job.

Link to the conversation so you can listen for yourself – here.