Amendment would ‘fundamentally alter’ homeschooling in MN

The measure by the state senate’s DFL majority seeks broader restrictions on who can homeschool and where.

By Luke Sprinkel, Alpha News – May 2, 2025

Last week, the Minnesota Senate discussed its education omnibus bill, SF 1740. During that multi-hour floor session, many different amendments were offered and voted on.

However, one of those amendments split the Senate Republican Caucus and resulted in one state senator getting caught in a flip-flop.

The author of that amendment, Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, was attempting to add new regulations on homeschooling that defined what a homeschool is, prescribed what “directing a home school” means, and set limits on who could homeschool.

In an article explaining the changes, the Home School Legal Defense Association said the amendment would “fundamentally alter the state’s homeschool law” with “restrictions that would be among the most onerous in the nation.”

The Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators (MACHE) told Alpha News that the language of Maye Quade’s amendment would narrowly define homeschool as groups of related students that are confined to an actual residence in Minnesota.

MACHE noted that homeschooling has evolved over the years, taking many different forms, and is not simply limited to related students being instructed at home. Today, homeschool often includes co-ops made up of many different families and involves activities that take place outside the home such as sports, acting, dance, and music.

As such, the organization says Maye Quade’s amendment would put harmful restrictions on homeschooling. Further, MACHE questioned whether state reports or inspections of homeschools would be required under the language of the amendment.

However, these portions of the amendment were not discussed at last week’s Senate floor session.

Senate debate on provision to ban criminals from operating a homeschool

Instead, the section of the amendment which received the most attention was a provision that would prohibit individuals from operating a homeschool if they were ever convicted of certain felonies, gross misdemeanors, or misdemeanors.

Under the amendment, specific offenses that would prohibit someone from homeschooling include murder, assault, manslaughter, domestic assault, aggravated robbery, spousal abuse, carjacking, malicious punishment of a child, and sex crimes.

Speaking in support of Maye Quade’s amendment last week, Democrats said the proposal would keep predators from operating homeschools and close a loophole in state law that allows people to abuse their children without anyone knowing because those children are not around other adults.

“This is not to impugn the good people who do homeschooling,” said Maye Quade. “It is to not allow predators to take advantage of this loophole to give [homeschooling] a bad name.”

The DFL lawmaker noted the language of her amendment was modeled on current law that permanently bans people from becoming foster parents if they have been convicted of certain offenses.

Multiple GOP senators questioned the logic of the amendment.

In short, Republicans said that any person convicted of a crime listed in the amendment would have their child custody rights determined by a court. If the person committed an offense that would disqualify them from having custody of a child, then the court would separate that person from their child.

As such, the GOP lawmakers said the amendment was illogical because it permanently bans a parent from homeschooling their child even if a court has ruled that the parent has full custody rights, can live with their child, and engage in normal daily life with their child.

“It is clearly not logical that a parent, a biological parent that has served their time, can go in the backyard and spend time time with their child — maybe setting up a tent, teaching them how to camp — can share a meal, can pray together over dinner, all the other activities that go on underneath a household, but then can’t teach them instruction,” said Sen. Eric Lucero, R-St. Michael, “It doesn’t make sense. It’s an illogical amendment.”

MACHE told Alpha News that the amendment has no statute of limitations and could result in a scenario where a 16-year-old convicted of one of the aforementioned crimes is barred for life from homeschooling his or her future children.

One of the GOP legislators who spoke against Maye Quade’s amendment was Sen. Eric Pratt, R-Prior Lake.

After giving an impassioned speech in which he said the criminal prohibition section “makes no sense,” Pratt concluded his remarks by saying, “this is an assault on parental rights and I encourage members to vote no.”

Despite this, Pratt voted in favor of the amendment just moments later. In fact, 10 GOP senators voted in favor of the amendment while the 20 other Republicans voted against it.

Another GOP lawmaker, Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, spoke out against Maye Quade’s amendment on the floor but did not vote either for or against the amendment.

The amendment was ultimately added to the Senate’s education omnibus bill by a vote of 44 to 20; all DFLers supported the amendment. However, any changes to state law need approval from both the Senate and the Minnesota House of Representatives.

The House is currently split with 67 Republicans and 67 Democrats.

Sen. Pratt and the Senate GOP say they support homeschool

Alpha News reached out to Pratt regarding his flip-flop on the Senate floor. In a statement, Pratt said he has championed homeschool throughout his career and he would prevent the language of the amendment from becoming law.

“Having spoken with families who champion homeschooling, they have identified concerns with the legislation that were not discussed on the Senate floor,” said Pratt. “This type of gotcha debate is exactly why we have a process that requires further negotiation with the House, and I can confidently tell you that my colleagues and I will prevent this language from becoming law.”

When pressed for a further explanation of why Pratt opposed the amendment on the floor and then voted for it moments later, a spokesperson for the Senate GOP did not respond.

Speaking on behalf of the Senate Republican Caucus, Sen. Julia Coleman, R-Waconia, said her caucus has long supported homeschool rights, she would work for improved language in negotiations with the House, and Maye Quade’s language should be set aside until there is more time to “identify specific improvements” that protect children and preserve the rights of families.

Coleman was one of the Republican senators who voted for Maye Quade’s amendment.

During Thursday’s debate on the Senate floor, Maye Quade confirmed that her proposal had never been heard in the Senate Education Policy Committee before, which meant members of the public and legislators were unable able to weigh in on this specific language. The DFL lawmaker repeatedly noted that she did not think her proposal would be controversial.

PHOTO: Sen. Eric Pratt and Sen. Erin Maye Quade | Minnesota Senate Media