[SuziQ]

Is Clare Farragher a member of the Legislature from Freehold Township? She was my neighbor when we lived there, and she was conservative. Never asked her about homeschooling cause we weren't doing it at the time.

[MarMema]

Go HSLDA. Stop this now.

[3catsanadog]

Why is it that good, law-abiding U.S. citizens are being scrutinized more and more in every facet of their private lives and yet the beaurocrats are bending over backwards to protect every real and imagined right for terrorists, illegal aliens and common criminals? We all know it's happening and we call attention to it on forums like this and everywhere else we can and yet legislation continues to squash us like steamrollers.

Is there any way humanly possible that this country can get back to common sense?

[Salvation]

Don't worry about the tests. Just take them. Your kids will score higher and higher and higher than the public schools anyway.

Who has been winning the national geography bees? Spelling bees? Etc.?

The homeschooled students, and it drives the public schools administrators nuts.

Keep up the good work.

[Coleus]

A1918

New Jersey--Hearing on  A1918 Postponed


Thank you for the phone calls!  We believe they had an impact.

The hearing on A1918 has been removed from the May 6 agenda of the Education Committee, although we cannot yet be certain of the reason. If you called and were unable to get through to your assemblyperson, you may wish to simply wait. We do not believe more calls are needed at this time. When we have new information, or when the hearing is rescheduled, we will notify you. 

The Education Committee is scheduled to meet again May 17.  It is possible the bill could receive a hearing then.

Sincerely,

Scott A. Woodruff, Esq.
HSLDA Staff Attorney

 

 

 

New Jersey--Urgent:Calls Needed Immediately to Keep Homeschooling
Free


Dear HSLDA members and friends:

On Thursday, May 6, at 2:00 p.m., a bill that would devastate homeschooling in New Jersey will have a hearing in the Assembly Education Committee.

We need your calls now and your attendance at the committee hearing this Thursday!

Bill A1918 would force homeschool children to take the same curriculum-based statewide assessments that public school children take, give private medical information to local public school systems, and give the New Jersey Board of Education virtually unlimited power to impose additional restrictions. 

The public hearing on the bill will be in room 16 on the 4th floor of the Statehouse Annex in Trenton. 


Action Requested:

1. Please call your Assemblypersons immediately if they are listed below and ask them to oppose A1918. Your message can be as simple as,

"Please oppose A1918. This bill violates federal law and will damage the fundamental parental rights thousands of law abiding families who homeschool in New Jersey. The law already requires parents to give their children adequate medical care. The law already requires homeschool parents to give their children an education equivalent to what they would receive in public school. That is sufficient. Don't punish thousands of parents for the failure of the Department of Youth and Family Services to protect the Jackson children in Collingswood." 

If neither of your Assemblypersons are listed below, call the Chair of the Committee, Craig A. Stanley, and give him the same message.

2. Come to Trenton and attend the hearing on Thursday. We need an overwhelming turnout to persuade this committee that the bill should die. They need to see that homeschoolers care about their freedom. Parking may be a challenge, so plan ahead.

I plan to testify in opposition to the bill.

3. Call other homeschoolers and encourage them to help us fight this battle.  Every homeschooler is needed.

Assembly Education Committee Contact Information:

Chairman Craig A. Stanley  973-399-1000
Patrick J. Diegnan  908-757-1677
David R. Mayer  609-298-6250
Robert Lewis Morgan  732-741-5599
Nellie Pou   973-247-1555
Joseph Vas   732-324-4955
Joan M. Voss   201-346-6400
David W. Wolfe  732-840-9028

Background:

Reasons to Oppose A1918:

1. Federal law prohibits states from requiring that homeschoolers take a state assessment designed for public school students. New Jersey would lose millions of dollars of federal funds if this bill is enacted, since it violates this requirement. 

2. State assessments test material taught in the public school curriculum. Homeschool children do not use the public school curriculum. It would be unfair to test them on material they do not study.

3. Statistics show that higher regulation--such as mandatory testing-- does not help homeschool students. Studies show that homeschoolers score 20 to 30 percentile points higher than others students. Forcing them to take tests when their performance has already been proven is senseless.

4. It would give the Board of Education power to define-and thus entirely control--homeschooling. Parents could be transformed overnight into criminal suspects by Board regulations that define "homeschooling" in a way that prohibits them from doing what have been doing successfully for years.

5. Forcing families to prove their children have received a medical examination is an invitation for the state to interfere in family medical issues.

6. Neither public nor private school students are required to receive annual medical examinations.

7. No other state requires an annual medical examination for homeschoolers.

8. This bill is a knee-jerk reaction to the highly publicized case in Collingswood where the Jackson family allegedly starved their children. If true, the blame lies with DYFS.  They were in the family's home over 30 times and never noticed a nutrition problem. DYFS should be punished, not homeschoolers. There is absolutely no evidence that homeschool parents are more likely to neglect their children than anyone else.

Thank you for rising to the challenge to defend homeschool freedom.

Sincerely,

Scott A. Woodruff, Esq.
HSLDA Staff Attorney

 

Last Session Bill Number:    Weinberg, Loretta   as Primary Sponsor
1/26/2004 Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee Introduced - 2 pages PDF Format    HTML Format

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

What a joke. Subjecting American children to the psychopolitics of totalitarian, secular humanist, statist education is absurd. The constitution grants no such authority.

[TxBec]

update ping.

[mware]

McGreedy doing the bidding of the NJEA.

[yoe]

BUMP!

This could happen in your state!
Home schooled children are by far better educated than public school children in many states. What are these politicians so afraid of - they won't get the teacher's vote? That is the bottom line - not the education of your children, but votes to remain in office.

[quietolong]

This is not a "Win" yet! The symptom was only treated. The disease still Goes happily on. These people are still in power. Along with the emails start a recall. Or otherwise work to remove these people

Look at what most of these people ended up doing!

The Weather Underground (PBS Documentary about The Weathermen)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1125867/posts

Independentlens The Weather Underground
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/weatherunderground/index.html

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

YOU VILL SUBMITT TO ZE SHTATE!

[HiTech RedNeck]

A bill that would force New Jersey homeschool children to submit to the same statewide assessment tests required of public school students, and force their parents to give the local school board proof the student had received an annual medical examination, is set to be introduced in the New Jersey legislature this Thursday.

The medical provisions are just plain stooooopid. But as for the achievement tests why not bring them on, with the proviso that the state advertises the results in the newspapers at its expense. The homeschool kids will blow away the pubskewlers.