Program would give
poor children
school choice
By GREGORY J. VOLPE,
thnt.com Online, April 19, 2008
TRENTON — A school choice
pilot program for children in seven cities will be pushed by a bipartisan group
of lawmakers in the coming months after some maneuvering around a legislative
hurdle.
Advocates have been pushing for school choice for years but have been blocked by
Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee. But
Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, a sponsor of the measure, plans to bypass
Turner's committee with a rewritten version that focuses on economic benefits,
placing it in the Senate Economic Growth Committee, which he chairs.
The program would give scholarships to poor children in Camden, Elizabeth,
Lakewood, Newark, Orange, Paterson and Trenton to enable them to attend another
public or private school. Business groups, which supports the measure, would
fund the scholarships through donations that count as tax credits.
Advocates say the time is right for this program given how many private schools,
especially Catholic ones, are folding.
"It also provides an avenue for low-income families to send their children to
private schools that more wealthy families are able to do," Lesniak said.
Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean Jr., R-Union, said he plans to join as a
sponsor. The measure is expected to be posted for a committee vote next month,
after a economic study commissioned by a group that supports the program,
Excellent Education for Everyone, is finished.
Dan Gaby, the group's executive director, said the program would collect $24
million from business in its first year, funding about 4,000 scholarships of
$6,000. The loss of revenue to the state through tax credits, Gaby said, would
be offset by the $18,000 the state wouldn't have to spend educating scholarship
recipients in public schools.
"Children ought to have a right to be able to opt out of failing urban school
systems," Gaby said. "Everyone has school choice if they have money. And our
argument has always been those children without money should have those same
opportunities."
Turner said advocates underestimate the costs of private school tuition and said
the proposal is just a back-door toward school vouchers.
"I don't know how changing committees is going to change the financial condition
of the state and the deficit budget that we're facing," Turner said. "... I
don't understand how we can afford another program that's going to take money
out of our treasury."
The New Jersey Education Association, which will likely lead the lobbying push
against the measure, said there's no evidence the corporate scholarship proposal
will save money.
"It's still a tax giveaway. It's still taking money out of the state treasury
and using it subsidize private education," said NJEA spokesman Steve Baker. "... In a year where you're looking at the type of budget cuts that are being made,
and the kind of cutbacks that have to be made, it's just irresponsible to steer
public funds toward private schools."
Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon Jr., R-Monmouth, who sponsors a similar measure
with Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez, D-Camden, said the program will save
taxpayer money and questioned the motivation of opponents.
"There are obvious motivations there," O'Scanlon said. "NJEA is afraid we may
find out that there are some private schools that are doing a better job of
educating our kids in some instances."
gvolpe@app.com
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