Trenton — Rosemary Becchi, President and Founder of New Jersey Policy Institute, issued the following statement today regarding legislation pending in the Senate Education Committee:

Excessive regulations on homeschooling risk stifling educational freedom and innovation—undermining the ability of New Jersey families to tailor learning to their children’s unique needs and ultimately weakening one of the most flexible and responsive models of education.

Requiring families to file detailed annual notices adds red tape for law-abiding parents and creates the potential for penalties due to administrative oversights. If enacted, this bill would pave the way for more invasive policies that treat families as subjects of investigations, not as partners in education.

Ultimately, the level and frequency of the reporting required in this bill will discourage families from homeschooling out of fear of stigmatization or bureaucratic entanglement, reducing educational freedom in New Jersey.

Our legislators should be working to encourage greater innovation and creativity in education—not creating more barriers and obstacles for parents and students, which this bill ultimately does.”