Parents: New education bill would hurt public schools

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - Education activists and parents rallied Wednesday against a bill that would allow the use of taxpayer-funded vouchers for religious and private schools, calling it "a backdoor way to privatization" of public schools.

Several said the program would drain resources from poorer districts and undercut initiatives aimed at improving public schools.

Parent Luz Mayi, who said her seven children, ages 14 to 35, attended parochial and public schools in Jersey City, said supporters of the voucher program were disingenuous in trying to sell it as an attempt to give parents school choice. The proposal would not allow children with less-than-stellar grades, special needs, language barriers, or other obstacles to be accepted at any school, she said.

"It would hurt children in public schools," Mayi said. "To me, that's a crime, and you're abusing people who can't defend themselves, children."

At issue is a pilot program called the Opportunity Scholarship Act, supported by Gov. Christie, which would permit about 40,000 students in Camden and 12 other low-income districts to apply for scholarship vouchers to attend private or parochial schools.

The Senate and Assembly have held hearings on the proposal, but neither has voted on it. It could be taken up before the end of the year.

Expanding school choice, closing poorly performing schools and abolishing teacher tenure are centerpieces of the governor's education plans.

About 70 parents and education activists at the rally held anti-voucher signs in an auditorium at the Franklin L. Williams Middle School in Jersey City, and vowed to conduct more rallies across the state.

Sen. Ron Rice (D., Newark) said the proposal was exclusionary.

"The voucher is a slick way to the privatization of public schools, a way to exclude certain groups," Rice said. The goal of the program, he said, seemed to be to make the public schools for-profit institutions.

"It's a backdoor way to privatization," he said.

Supporters of the voucher proposal plan to hold a rally in Trenton on Thursday.

"A child's zip code should not determine his or her future," said Jonathan Jaffe, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Choice Alliance, which is organizing the pro-voucher rally. The group's mission statement says public funding should follow children to the schools of their parents' choice.

"Children stuck in low-performing schools have been waiting since 2005 for this critical lifeline to become law," Jaffe said. "The past six years have been devastating for thousands of children."

The Opportunity Scholarship Act would give tax credits to businesses in exchange for contributions to education scholarships. Students in 13 pilot cities would be chosen by lottery for the scholarships, which would be used to offset the cost of attending school outside their failing district.

A quarter of the voucher allotment would be set aside for students who already attend private or parochial schools.

The Assembly bill would allocate vouchers totaling $360 million over five years. The Senate version of the bill could cost up to $1 billion, according to the state teachers union, which opposes the plan.

William Colon of the education advocacy group Latino Institute and an organizer of Wednesday's voucher-opposition rally said the plan would take scarce resources away from the public schools following the governor's $820 million education-aid cuts in the current fiscal year.

"This voucher scheme is a Band-Aid. It's not really dealing with real school reform," Colon said. "It's about how to fix certain things very quickly, and when you analyze the whole thing, in the long run, it's really a mechanism to take public education money and give it to private operators."

In addition to Camden, cities selected for the pilot program are Asbury Park, East Orange, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Lakewood, Newark, Orange, Passaic, Paterson, Perth Amboy, Plainfield, and Trenton.