The right to homeschool: "Family Right to Educational Emancipation (FREE) Act"
A bill sponsored by Senator Bowling and Representative Warner
On January 29, 2025 the FREE Act was introduced to the Tennessee General Assembly. This law, if passed, would create more freedom for homeschoolers and move toward deregulation of home schools by creating a new category of independent homeschools that are not subject to government oversight, reporting, testing or attendance.
This bill is designed to create a law to give more freedom to families and remove the administrative burden of reporting and registration. There is talk of similar legislation in the works to modify the Tennessee State Constitution to recognize the nature rights of parents to educate their children at home. This is a step in the right direction. (A constitutional amendment takes years to pass because it must be passed by two consecutive General Assemblies and then goes to the people to vote on it- so the earliest a constitutional amendment could pass is 2030.)
For today, we have Senator Bowling and Representative Warner fighting for more freedom for homeschoolers by sponsoring this bill. Here are the details along with screen shots of the bill so you can read it for yourself. (Website where you can track this bill.)
Call and email your state representative and senator and ask them to vote YES! on this bill. Find your representative here. Find your state senator here. (Then put them in your phone for easy access. This is going to be a crazy two years!)
Education - As introduced, enacts the "Family Right to Educational Emancipation (FREE) Act," which creates a new category of independent home schools that are not subject to the data collection, reporting, or assessment requirements applicable to existing independent home school programs and that exempts such home school students and parents from compulsory school attendance requirements; prohibits the department of safety from conditioning the issuance of a driver license or learner's permit on a school-aged applicant's attendance record or enrollment status. - Amends TCA Title 37; Title 49; Title 50 and Title 55.
