Scott Woodruff, director of legal and legislative advocacy for the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), says Senate Bill 1796 would not solve anything.
"New Jersey already has a very brawny homeschool law," he tells AFN. "It requires families to provide instruction to their kids that is equivalent to what they would receive in public school. So, current New Jersey homeschool law emphasizes what matters – the education of the child – and doesn't pay any deference to the things that don't matter, like paperwork."
HSLDA notified everyone in the state about the bill's Senate committee hearing last Thursday morning.
"The message spread like wildfire," Woodruff reports. "Many homeschool groups spread the word and encouraged people to call and e-mail their senators, and on the morning, about 200 homeschoolers showed up to oppose the bill."
In addition to solving nothing, he says this proposal provides absolutely no protection for student privacy, requiring the collection and aggregation of a significant amount of private data.
"We were pleasantly surprised to find that the bill's sponsor, Senator Angela McKnight (D), had asked the committee to postpone or defer any action on the bill," notes Woodruff.
His team is happy with this outcome, even though it is not officially permanent.
"This is definitely not the official end of the bill, but unless the sponsor asks for the bill to move forward, I expect this truly will be lights out for the bill," Woodruff explains.
This session ends on December 31. The new session is scheduled to begin in January with new representatives and senators following the fall's elections.
