LOCAL CRANK ALERT
Just kidding, Tim.
Newsday (the very big Long Island paper) has a nice article about the proposed NJ homeschool bill. Tim Haas figures prominently:
TRENTON, N.J. — Public education bored Tim Haas, so he and his wife decided they were better suited to care for and educate their two sons than the state.
But Haas and the thousands of other New Jersey families that homeschool now face what they say is an unnecessary and unfair intrusion by the same state regulators they tried to escape.
…Parents like Haas said they will continue to oppose restrictions on how they educate their children. He cited a 40-year old court ruling that allowed a New Jersey woman to provide the equivalent of a classroom education at home.
“The legal, moral and practical questions about the fitness of homeschooling parents to care for and educate their children were answered decades ago in New Jersey,” Haas said. “Let us honor our venerable history and keep homeschooling free.”
Way to go, Tim! It sounds like the pressure is starting to work, too.
Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg, the bill’s sponsor, has agreed to make changes that would require children to take just one physical exam. Weinberg also is rethinking how to implement the academic testing.
The lawmaker says it was not her intention to besiege those who home school their children.
“This does not mean in any shape or form that I am attacking homeschooling but the state has right to know how many kids are homeschooled and to know they are getting the basic essentials,” said Weinberg, D-Bergen.
Weinberg also disputes that she was trying to take blame away from DYFS, which was supposed to supervise the Collingswood children’s welfare. She said that case was an example of how problems inside homes where children are taught can be missed because no education oversight is required.
“I saw too many things that fell through the cracks,” Weinberg said.
In a couple of weeks, the bill will be down to “Parents, pretty please register with the state.” It will then be referred to an education sub-sub-committee where it will die an ignoble death.
One Response to “LOCAL CRANK ALERT”
 Comment by Scott Lewis June 1st, 2004 at 2:06 pm |
Since when do states have rights??? |