Sponsored by:
Senator LORETTA WEINBERG
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Requires medical examination and submission of student work portfolios for home-schooled children; provides that children under supervision of DYFS may not be home-schooled.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning home-schooled children and supplementing chapter 38 and chapter 40 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. A parent or guardian of a home-schooled child shall:
a. submit to the superintendent of the resident school district no later than August 1 of each school year a letter informing the superintendent of the decision to home-school the child for that school year. The letter shall include the name and date of birth of the child, and the name of the person who will provide instruction to the child; and
b. submit to the resident school district no later than June 30 of each school year a portfolio of records and materials including, but not limited to, a list of reading materials used, and samples of writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials used or developed to assess the reading, writing, and computational skills of the student.
2. A parent or guardian of a home-schooled child shall provide documentation to the resident district board of education no later than September 1 of each school year that the child has undergone an annual medical examination.
3. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any child under the care, custody or supervision of the Division of Youth and Family Services, including a child placed in a resource family home or in a kinship care home, shall not be home-schooled and shall be enrolled in a public or nonpublic school, unless the child's home-schooling is approved by the division.
4. The State Board of Education shall promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), which are necessary to effectuate the provisions of sections 1 and 2 of this act.
5. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the parent of a home-schooled child to provide certain information to the resident school district each school year. Under the bill, the parent must submit to the superintendent of the resident school district by August 1 of each school year a letter informing the superintendent of the decision to home-school the child for that school year. The letter must include the name and date of birth of the child, and the name of the person who will provide instruction to the child. The parent must also submit to the resident school district by June 30 of each school year a portfolio of student records and materials used to assess the reading, writing, and computational skills of the student.
Under the bill, the parent of a home-schooled child must also provide documentation to the resident district board of education by September 1 of each school year that the child has undergone an annual medical examination.
The bill also provides that any child under the care, custody or supervision of the Division of Youth and Family Services, including a child placed in a resource family home or in a kinship care home, may not be home-schooled unless the child's home-schooling is approved by the division.