Two State Board of Education members spoke out recently against the Michigan Department of Education’s plans to seek a homeschool registry.

“This whole homeschool thing is quite disturbing,” said one of the trustees, Tom McMillin, a Republican, at the board’s Feb. 13 meeting. An eight-minute clip of the meeting, posted on X by @WallStreetApes, went viral.

McMillin believes the homeschool registry discussion has been disingenuous. He believes the registry is not the end game, but the beginning of a regulatory regime. At best it will check and approve homeschool curriculums. At worst, it will seek “unwarranted home entry” into homeschool families’ homes, and failing that, will “barge in and bust the door down,” he said

Michael Rice, the state superintendent, reiterated his January letter to lawmakers at the board table.

“There is a history in Michigan and across the nation that some students get no education,” Rice said.

In the letter and at the table, Rice offered no statistics as to the scope of the problem, whether nationally or in Michigan.

Rice said every child in Michigan needs an “identified educational setting.”

“It’s going to go beyond registration,” McMillin said. “They’re either going to want to know exactly what’s being taught or want entry into the house. ... Registration is the next step and is not the only step.”

Molly Macek, education policy director at the Mackinac Center, agreed.

“A simple list of names with their form of schooling will do nothing to protect kids,” Macek told CapCon. “If safety is the goal, then a registry is just the first step in regulating homeschooling. Whether these regulations include curriculum verifications, home checks or other requirements, they restrict the parents’ right to ‘determine and direct the care, teaching, and education of their children.’” That language is from section 10 of the Revised School Code.

“Simply put, a homeschool registry and any additional regulations would restrict families’ educational freedom,” Macek said. “When parents choose to remove their kids from government schools to be educated outside the system, these kids are no longer under the government’s care.”

Nikki Snyder, also a Republican, echoed McMillin’s concerns.

Snyder called it oppressive to ask students and families who left the Michigan education system to register with the state.

“Students have a constitutional right and reasonable expectation of privacy,” Snyder added.

Snyder echoed McMillin in calling the early attempts at a registry disingenuous, calling the registry the beginning of an attempt to “audit the educational choices of every family in this state.”

The Growing Michigan Together Council’s final report in December described immigration as a bright spot for Michigan’s population numbers. While 7% of Michigan residents are foreign-born, according to the latest Census data, the council said that share could double by 2050.

Last week Michigan Chief Growth Officer Hilary Doe described immigration as the green line in Michigan’s population story, the one number going up. A SEMCOG report last year found that 14,012 people aged 64 or younger left Southeast Michigan each year between 2010 and 2019, while 14,737 foreigners arrived annually.

Statewide, immigration “helps offset our out-migration a little bit,” Doe said.

In 2020, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer created the Office of Global Michigan. Four years later, that office is asking Michiganders to serve as sponsors to refugees. Refugees from Ukraine, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela are mentioned specifically.

“The Office of Global Michigan’s goal is to make Michigan the home for opportunity for our immigrant, refugee and ethnic communities,” said Poppy Hernandez, Michigan’s Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer and Director of the Office of Global Michigan. “With expanded refugee resettlement pathways, everyday Michiganders can provide refuge and build a state where people are welcomed with open arms.”

Sponsorship can involve a variety of tasks, the state’s website explains.

“Sponsors are expected to provide support to newly arrived refugees for 90 days through acts such as greeting refugee newcomers at the airport, securing and preparing initial housing, enrolling children in school and helping adults find employment,” says the Office of Global Michigan.

According to the office’s annual report for 2023, the state took in 7,583 refugees. The biggest group, at 3,500 people, was from Ukraine. Another 1,500 came from Cuba or Haiti. And 2,583 came from the federal refugee resettlement program. This was “the largest number of arrivals with humanitarian status into the state in over a decade,” says the office.

Michigan is a top-10 state for refugees.