On September 22, 2008, Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver and Assemblyman L.Harvey Smith sponsored and introduced Legislature to regulate Home Education Programs. This legislation would require parents who choose to homeschool their children to register their children with their local school children and regulate oversight of home education programs by school boards and superintendents.
Parents choose to homeschool for many reasons. There are parents who want to select the curriculum their children learn for religious reasons. There are parents who want to improve the quality of their child's academic performance. There are parents who prefer this method, to provide their children a well rounded social experience free from bullying. There are health reasons, special needs, families who travel, families who do not have access to good public schools an on and on.
For parents of Special Needs children, homeschooling is a Gift. For children who have Aspergers, participating in a regular educational schedule is often prohibitive. Many have sensory or physical difficulties, that make it impossible to fully participate in a regular classroom, others have such difficulty navigating the social arena, and are not able to handle the school experience, even with supports. There are many districts who do not have the resources to help and support children with higher functioning Autism, Aspergers and a host of other Neurologically based Learning Disabilities. Many children with these difficulties, face lifelong depression, loneliness, and stigma.
Many parents choose to take their Special Needs children out of the public schools and educate them at home, while providing them structured social opportunities where their children can learn, thrive, and experience social interaction at their own pace. The benefits of homeschooling for Aspies goes beyond the Social Opportunities, their parents can also pick and choose from a wide range of curriculum that emphasises their children's interests and strengths, and prepares them for future employment and independent lives.
For many teens with Aspergers, the inability to navigate the social arenas at their local public schools, leads them to lifelong depression and loneliness. For younger children, the lack of appropriate supports in the public schools, leads to behavior problems, stigma, and low self esteem.
This legislature makes a point to offer oversight, by the same public educational system that habitually fails to educate Special Needs Children in many parts of our state, the same system that exposes children of Special Needs to abuse, without oversight. It gives the Board of Education and Superintendent the ability to control what is taught and terminate a parents right to homeschool based on their disagreement with the curriculum being offered. It gives the Board of Education and Superintendent the ability to force a child with Aspergers or ADHD or other learning disability, back into a school system that is currently failing them.
If this legislation becomes law, parents will loose their rights in the choices they make for their child's education and can be forced to educate a child in a Government Institution. Taking their constitutional rights, and God given rights to decide how their children are educated, much the same as communist, socialist, and Nazi based idealism.
Read the legislation, and please note that no where on the list of regulations, does this legislation ensure that Special Needs Homeschoolers will also be given the right to receive services through their school system, such as speech or occupational therapy. In other words, the government and local school system, will control your homeschool, but you foot the bill for their decisions twice.
The cost to the taxpayers, for all the litigation and regulation will be atrocious, as parents will have to go to due process and mediation to get their curriculum, and homeschool approved.
Dear tax payers - We will all be paying more taxes for this. Don't let this one go by us
To read the legislation click here
PDF: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2008/Bills/A3500/3123_I1.PDF
HTML: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2008/Bills/A3500/3123_I1.HTM
Please take the time to read the bill. Please take some time to pray for the N.J. Homeschool community, the State leaders who will be discussing plans of action, and for our legislators
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3 comments:
We are in CA and I homeschool my 13 yr old HFA son. My nonverbal 12 yr old is in special ed with aide. I am originally from NJ, this is my 30th HS reunion in New Providence, not about to take two kids for first time on a plane to attend.
Although I do miss pork roll sandwiches and fresh white castle burgers with the onions and fresh stewart root beer. Good luck with this. My son was born in Flemington.
Thanks for visiting my blog. You have great information here and I will be back to read more. :)
Yikes.. part of my post got deleted when I tried to cut and past it at the top of my comment...
I was going to say that I think we will always be in trouble with education as long as public schools are funded by the federal government. Now they are dipping into home schooling freedoms? Sad indeed.
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