New Jersey
Klagholz Guidelines Wreak Havoc
School districts all over New Jersey have been hassling home schoolers, claiming that they “must” follow the new “regulations” issued by the state department of education. On April 30, 1997, Commissioner Leo Klagholz issued a document called Home Schooling in New Jersey, which makes a number of patently false claims, and which to date has not been enforced by any New Jersey court. Despite this, school districts keep trying to make home schoolers jump through all the hoops that their creative commissioner has spelled out. Home School Legal Defense Association’s 1,200-plus member families are holding the line against this unenforceable department of education policy.
Time and time again, attorneys representing New Jersey school districts have admitted to HSLDA that Commissioner Klagholz’s guidelines are not really enforceable. Several attorneys go so far as to say that the department of education has quite a reputation for “hand-waving,” or otherwise issuing blanket statements that turn out to be bad advice. Despite this fact, the department refuses to retract or amend these guidelines.
For this reason, HSLDA is drafting an alternative document which accurately reflects New Jersey law. This will clearly spell out the fact that home schoolers are not required by law to initiate contact with their local school districts, nor are they required to provide detailed educational information to their school officials. Once a family has provided credible assurances that they are teaching the subjects required by law at a level appropriate to the age or ability of their child, the burden of proof shifts to the school district to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the family is not providing “equivalent instruction.”
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New Jersey
Admitted to statehood:
December 18, 1787
Origin of name:
In 1664, the Duke of York gave a patent to John Berkley and Sir George Carteret to call the area Nova Caesaria, or New Jersey, after England’s Isle of Jersey.
Motto:
Liberty and Prosperity.
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