Image Credit: Gov. Bill Lee / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
A truancy bill that was opposed both within the Tennessee homeschool community and at the national level has been signed into law by Governor Bill Lee.
Sponsored by Senator Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun-District 1) and Representative Kevin Raper (R-Cleveland-District 24), along with House co-sponsors Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka-District 64), Kirk Haston (R-Lobelville-District 72), and Mark White (R-Memphis-District 83), the legislation (SB1968/HB1823) was the brainchild of “several juvenile court judges” according to the Senate sponsor.
At the beginning of the 2026 legislative session, Lowe attempted to run a bill dealing with truancy that would have required the director of a school to “report a student who was formally truant and now enrolled in a home school to juvenile court” and “to identify cases of educational neglect.”
Pushback from Tennessee homeschoolers was swift causing the original pair of bills to be withdrawn and the now passed legislation to be introduced instead.
While the new bills did not include “home school” in their language, Home School Advocacy Group Free Your Children (FYC) said that the proposed legislation remained virtually unchanged and that the constitutional right to homeschool in Tennessee could be violated.
Public school students who are found truant move through several tiers during intervention.
Lowe said that his bill was aimed at parents with drug abuse problems who just don’t bother to send their kids to school. However, many Tennessee parents find themselves having to deal with truancy interventions after their children have missed school simply due to sickness and despite having notes from a medical provider.
An amendment in the Senate was passed to apply the legislation towards public school students in Tier 3 or beyond, which Lowe said “starts to move into educational neglect.”
“The amended language of the bill makes it very very clear that this has nothing to do with homeschooling,” stated Lowe in one committee while acknowledging that homeschool families had been writing to lawmakers to make their concerns known. “This doesn’t prevent students from being removed from an LEA to homeschool. It doesn’t require anything additional of homeschool.”
Throughout the legislative process, Lowe has insisted that families in the middle of truancy proceedings can choose to homeschool, but some parents choosing this option have been bullied by rogue judges into returning their children to the very schools that are failing them.
When this was brought to Lowe’s attention, he stated that such judges could be voted out but this is easier said than done as most incumbent judges tend to retain their positions.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
