A New Jersey judge has ruled that a homeschooling mother must submit to state oversight even though state law says otherwise.
Tara Hamilton was sued by her estranged husband, Stephen, to force her to enroll their children in a parochial school because he says she can't give them an adequate education, despite the fact that she was homeschooling the kids before they broke up. The husband claims that "they lack socialization skills and that it is too difficult for the mother to teach the children at five different grade levels." It's the standard complaint thrown at homeschooling.
The judge sided with the husband and ordered Tara Hamilton to submit her kids to the oversight of a local public school system, including standardized testing, even though state explicitly exempts homeschooled kids from such testing. Judge Thomas Zampino also order the local school district to sue Tara in order to get a legal order that would allow them to "evaluate instruction in the home," even though the case clearly does not meet the guidelines in state law for that action.
Right on down the line, we see that this is clearly a case of an activist judge misusing his authority to punish a homeschooling mom at the behest of an estranged husband. It's another case of the creeping mindset that says that children are the primary responsibility of the government and only secondarily of the parent and that parents' rights only exist at the sufferance of the next activist judge or liberal legislature.
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