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| Date: From: Subject: | 5/3/2004 5:48:33 PM Home School Legal Defense Association New Jersey--Urgent:Calls Needed Immediately to Keep Homeschooling Free |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== May 3, 2004 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 {{JoinAd}} ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
