Give students the opportunities they deserve
Public school enrollment in New Jersey is at its lowest point in two decades! Despite sitting on a $10 billion surplus, Governor Murphy has decided to cut funding by tens of millions of dollars to tax-paying school districts and as usual, NJ families and their children suffer.
The State has an insatiable appetite for legislative school mandates but starves any funding of these demands. Sadly, trust in New Jersey public schools has been undermined. Therefore, parents are removing their children to find alternative forms of education such as home schooling and learning center pods. Families make a significant financial investment in their child’s future by depending on one source of income as the other parent teaches their child traditional academics. These families that decide not to use the government schools must still pay their local property taxes to fund the programs, facilities, and staff.
Yet, when these home school families want their child to participate in extra curricula activities, many of them are being denied access to the drama, sports, and clubs their child’s peers participate in and their tax dollars support. In New Jersey, local school districts may allow home school children to participate in extra curricular activities, but they are not required to. This means that some districts allow home school students to be on sports teams and in drama clubs, but others do not.
We believe a child’s zip code should not determine what opportunities they have access to.
That is why we have been strongly advocating for Assembly bill 1041 – Requires school districts to allow home-schooled students to participate in school-sponsored extracurricular activities in the student’s resident district.
This bill was reported favorably out of the Assembly Education Committee on May 19, 2022, with overwhelming bi-partisan support of 6-1. Unfortunately, the bill has not been scheduled for a full Assembly vote for nearly ten months.
Families who desire to home school their children should not have to choose between raising their children according to their conscience or allowing their children to pursue their dreams.
We need you to take action on behalf of home school families by calling the office of Assemblyman Craig Coughlin (D – Woodbridge). He is the Speaker of the Assembly and decides when and if a bill is posted for a vote in the Assembly chamber. In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, both Democrats and Republicans voted in favor of this bill in the Education Committee last May. We need to get this bill across the finish line! Will you help home school families in New Jersey?
Please use our Action Center for a sample phone script and contact information for Assemblyman Coughlin. It takes less than one minute to have your voice heard.
