NJDOE avoiding parental input - again!
I have been fighting for parental rights in education for a number of years. I have sat down with numerous legislators to have a conversation on why parents feel dismissed, pushed aside, and sidelined by school administrators, the bureaucracy of the State Board of Education, and by their fellow legislators.
Cleary, parents have the right to determine what is in their child’s best interest and to make decisions about their child’s education, health care, and religion, without interference from the government. I always stress to legislators and other education stakeholders that parents from both political parties agree that there should be greater transparency in the classroom. It’s simple – schools should not be teaching something in secret.
Tragically, there are people of influence within the state government that have an allegiance to political agendas and radical progressive ideologies. In their mind, parents should be part of a child’s life, but not the primary persons nurturing and directing the upbringing of the child. Instead, they believe that should be “left to the experts” – which they define as education unions and politicians. The very ones controlled by the financial campaign donations of those who are imposing postmodern gender theories into kindergarten classrooms.
Another example of the New Jersey Department of Education attempting to remove parents from the process just happened over this past weekend. They sent a reminder email to parents to sign up for upcoming open public hearings scheduled for April and early May. Their email went out hours before a holiday weekend with the cutoff time to register 12pm on Monday returning from the holiday weekend.
Parents attending church services, Easter egg hunts, or preparing meals for visiting family members to enjoy this past Resurrection Sunday might have missed this small window of opportunity to register. This is not an oversight by “the experts.”
Thankfully, we have parental rights champions in our legislature that are calling out the NJ Department of Education. Senator Mike Testa was outraged by this latest attempt to limit parental input on state education standards.
“It couldn’t be more obvious that they’re trying to limit public participation in what’s taught in our schools, just as they have in the past. They want public hearings without the public. It begs the question: what are they trying to hide?”
Senator Mike Testa (R-Vineland)
You can read more about what Senator Testa is doing by clicking here.
In a few weeks, we will be releasing our Elections 2023 webpage. The team at the New Jersey Family Policy Center will highlight the positive bills that we have been advocating for and the true champions of Parental Rights in our legislature who have sponsored these bills. Please consider donating today to help us educate voters across the state regarding who is for them and who is against them under the dome in Trenton.
Shawn Hyland
