It doesn’t begin to compare to the onerous requirements of Pennsylvania law.
I’ve posted about it before — mandated reporting of homeschooling practices, submission of work samples, required physical exams. Parents are accountable to the superintendent of the local school (or whatever the district calls its education chief). At the end of the year the student must be interviewed by a certified teacher, and the parents must pay for this service. Or else. Or else immediate charges of truancy and a visit from child protection racket personnel.
Fortunately I was over 18 when covid hit or I’d have been harassed about that vaccine, but I was required to submit medical records of past immunization, even though I was being homeschooled, not a potential bio-hazard to my contemporaries. Child protection wanted to keep a file on me and demanded a photo — they never got it, but they bared their teeth.
This in a state generally known for sanity. Unlike NJ it’s gun-friendly and mostly conservative (with the usual exceptions, big cities and college communities). But when it comes to education, it’s freaking Sparta. The children belong to the state, and the parents are just in the way.
And this is a trend. NJ is sure to come up with oppressive regulations, as more parents realize that public schools are not even teaching anymore, they’re simply babysitting and indoctrinating.
My recommendation for those stuck in Blue States is to be flexible and not afraid to move to new towns, when necessary. Then, assuming they don’t find you, keep the kids home during school hours, ALWAYS, and tell the neighbors they go to a private school 20 miles away. Obviously, your kids will also have to learn to lie, particularly at the doctor’s office (but do what’s possible there and use one as far away as possible).
If you get caught, act dumb and promise them you’ll permit their anal exam. Then GET THEM OUT - if there’s any way to do that, get the kids to a new state, because at that point you risk losing them.
[[At the end of the year the student must be interviewed by a certified teacher,]]
The homeschool kids should,be the ones interviewing the teachers to make sure the teachers are smart enougn to continue in the public schools!
The “cirtified teacher” probably leaves the interview feeling dumb compared to the kids!
Now and then, NJ would try to pass legislation. Fortunately, we always managed to fight it off.
Typically, the proposed legislation would be a reaction to an abuse case that hit the news. I recall only a handful of cases in NJ over the past 25 years, and, IIRC, in every case, the state knew about the family and did nothing to help the kids. For example, in one case, the state placed the children into the home, visited the home many times, and reported that everything was fine, even though the kids were severely underweight. In other cases, the children started out in public school, and the parents were abusing the kids then, and no one helped the kids then.
But, of course, when those abuse cases hit the news, the state blames the lack of homeschool regulations.
This time, this bill is a reaction to this recent case: https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4317050/posts?page=15#15 Those poor girls were removed from school and held in captivity. Waiting for more information... but I wouldn’t be surprised if the “parents” were suspected of abuse when the girls were in school, too.