New Jersey is one again lagging in a key national category: educational freedom.
On Thursday, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released its Index of State Education Freedom: A 50-State Guide to Parental Empowerment, a “forward-looking and evaluates each state on essential policies that change students’ lives by empowering parents and families with choice in education.”
“The ALEC Index of Education Freedom focuses on five categories of state education policy: funding and financing programs, charter schools, homeschooling, virtual schooling, and open enrollment,” ALEC explained. “States are increasingly recognizing that each student has his or her own unique needs, background, and learning style, and these new rankings focus on state-level policies that maximize educational opportunity for all students.”
New Jersey finished 29th overall with a cumulative “D” grade.
While the Garden State did well in some categories – for example, the state has surprisingly lax homeschooling regulations – it bombed other criteria, notably funding for school choice and open enrollment.
Click here to view the full report.
