New Jersey may become the first state in the nation to require schools to obtain a parent’s written permission at least two weeks before a child could participate in a survey, regardless of the purpose or sponsor.
Specifically the legislation would prohibit schools in that state from administering any academic or nonacademic survey that would reveal political affiliations, Social Security numbers, a family’s financial status, any mental and psychological problems, sexual behavior and attitudes, illegal or anti-social behavior that may exist in the family. It would also protect other “legally recognized privileged” relationships, such as those with the clergy, doctors and lawyers.
Schools violating the measure could be fined at the discretion of the state’s Commissioner of Education.
Monday, the General Assembly, acting with unusual speed, approved the legislation 55 to 16, with 5 abstentions. The bill was introduced on May 8 by Assemblymen Scott Garrett and Guy Talarico.
The measure, which the state Senate could act on as early as tomorrow, was patterned after the opt-in provision of a major education funding bill pending in the U.S. House of Representatives.
That provision was added to the Education Opportunities to Protect and Invest in Our Nation’s Students Act at the request of Rep. George Miller (D-CA) in a close vote by the House Education Committee in mid-April. It requires written parental permission for children to participate in educational-related market research programs.
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