The phrase “never let a good crisis go to waste,” widely attributed to Winston Churchill, suggests that challenging situations can create opportunities for positive change and progress. A more pessimistic outlook would point to ideological opportunists using a tragedy to advance their own agenda. 

Not letting a crisis go to waste is precisely what homeschool opponents are doing in New Jersey. Consider this headline from the New York Times about a tragedy there earlier this month: “They Said She Was Home-Schooled. She Said She Was Locked in a Dog Crate.”

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This is a common strategy from progressive activists: weaponizing a tragedy (usually involving a child) to advance their chosen public policy goals. As the popularity of homeschooling has increased, so has the attack on homeschool freedom from progressive Democrats. 

The New York Times reporting framed the abuse not as a failure of the people responsible but as a systemic flaw in New Jersey’s homeschool laws. “That a girl could vanish, and her abuse go unnoticed for so long,” the article claimed, “could have implications beyond this case.” Prosecutors, the story notes, blamed the state’s “lax rules around home-schooling” for allowing the abuse to go undetected.

With the information reported by the New York Times, New Jersey legislators moved forward. Two major bills were introduced that would affect homeschool freedom in the state.

The first, New Jersey Assembly Bill 5825, would require homeschooling families to register their children with the local school district, submit a curriculum aligned with state standards, maintain a learning portfolio, and undergo an annual evaluation by a certified third party, such as a teacher or psychologist. These evaluations and records must be submitted each year to the district superintendent, who may also approve a state-endorsed diploma for students who meet the requirements. 

The Home School Legal Defense Association strongly opposes the bill, arguing that it would transform New Jersey from one of the least regulated states for homeschooling into one of the most restrictive. 

The second, New Jersey Assembly Bill 5796, would require every homeschooling family to meet with a designated school district representative, such as a counselor, nurse, or social worker, once a year. The meeting would be an opportunity for parents to request district support and for the official to conduct a general “health and wellness” check of the child.

Scott Woodruff, the HSLDA lawyer tasked with the state of New Jersey, dismissed the notion that either legislation would make children safer or deliver a better education. He told the Washington Examiner, “The people who have malicious criminal intent are not going to become Victorian-level compliers with such laws suddenly.”

It’s the same flawed idea behind gun-free zones; it’s absurd to believe that someone who would commit a mass shooting would be willing to comply with regulations regarding gun-free zones. With the situation in New Jersey that was the subject of the New York Times reporting, one can safely assume that parents who are charged with aggravated assault, criminal restraint, kidnapping, and weapons offenses would not be compliant with homeschool regulations.

On a bigger picture level, these incursions threaten every resident of New Jersey and across the country, homeschooling or not. Nicole Neily, president of Defending Education, told the Washington Examiner, “As education freedom expands across the country, it’s important to remember that attempts to encroach on families’ schooling options are taking place at the state level across the country. As the saying goes, ‘the price of liberty is eternal vigilance,’ which is why it’s critical to ensure that these efforts don’t gain traction.”

These proposals are not about improving education; they’re about expanding the jurisdiction of the state over children and families. That’s especially galling when considering the public school system’s performance. In New Jersey, only 38% of fourth and eighth graders score proficient or above in reading. In math, it’s worse. Just 37% of eighth graders meet that benchmark. And yet, these same institutions are now being positioned as the judges of homeschool quality. It’s not just the blind leading the blind; it’s the blind presuming to lead the sighted.

What’s more, empowering school districts to conduct “health and wellness” checks under the guise of support is an extreme violation of parental rights.

It raises a serious question: If the public education system struggles to deliver even basic academic outcomes for the students already in its care, what makes anyone believe it is equipped to oversee children’s health and wellness? The system is already failing at its mandate; why task it with even more responsibility and with more students?

If the true goal were to ensure children’s health and safety, the legislation could require proof of regular checkups from a licensed physician. Instead, it burdens school nurses and social workers with unnecessary responsibilities, interviewing homeschooled children who aren’t part of the school system. Why involve district employees at all? Because the aim isn’t health or safety, it’s control.

There’s no evidence that homeschooling itself is a risk factor for child abuse. In fact, the federally established Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities studied this topic extensively and released a 2016 report titled “Within Our Reach.” Over two years, the commission reviewed research, heard expert testimony, and identified the key risk factors for child fatalities from abuse and neglect. Homeschooling was not among them.

“There’s no compelling case that any homeschooling kid has to be in front of a mandated reporter,” HSLDA’s Woodruff said. “Homeschooling is not a risk factor for child abuse.”

He continued, “When something revolting happens, it rivets our attention and we want to do something. There’s a short window in which people are motivated and focused. If that window is frittered away focusing on a non-risk factor, the opportunity is gone.”

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That brings us back to Churchill’s warning about crises and their political utility. In this case, a genuine opportunity for reform focused on real, identified risk factors may be lost. But that’s not the goal for many progressive activists, journalists, or lawmakers in New Jersey. Their objective isn’t to protect children. It’s to assert greater control over families who dare to educate independently.

If we allow them to succeed and let this tragedy be twisted into a pretext for sweeping government overreach, we will have wasted the crisis in the most dangerous way possible, not by failing to act but by acting on the wrong problem and punishing the innocent instead of the guilty.

Bethany Mandel (@bethanyshondark) is a homeschooling mother of six and a writer. She writes and podcasts at the Mom Wars.