EDISON — A community meeting conducted tonight by state Sen. Barbara Buono to talk about cuts to education funding doubled as a pep rally for teachers and parents who expressed concern public education is under siege.

Njspotlight.com ‘Two Decades in the Making, School Voucher Bill Clears Big Hurdle’ Senate committee vote not just about voucher merits, but also recipients By John Mooney, January 21 in Education A key Senate committee yesterday voted for New Jersey’s first experiment with private school vouchers. That's not a final verdict but it's no small vote -- and a bitterly fought one -- for an effort literally two decades old. Related Links Latest Version of School Voucher Bill Heads for Senate Budget Committee The five-hour budget committee hearing ended with a suspense-filled vote after dark. With a mix of Republican and Democratic support, the committee voted out the Opportunity Scholarship Act by an 8-5 tally. That cleared the way for its next vote before the full Senate and brought applause and hugs from much of the overflow crowd in the Statehouse. But with much jockeying still ahead, including before the Assembly, behind the scenes has been a delicate balancing act of deciding exactly who would qualify for the vouchers and how much would they get. The latest version of the bill would make New Jersey’s program among the more generous in the country, with vouchers, or scholarships, up to $8,000 for elementary and $11,000 for secondary students to attend schools of their choice. The vouchers would be paid for by corporate contributions that in turn would be matched by state tax credits. As passed yesterday, the bill targets students attending low-performing schools in 13 districts and meeting income thresholds at two-and-a-half times the federal poverty levels. That would be roughly $50,000-60,000 a year, depending on the size of the family. Up to a quarter of them would also be reserved for those already in non-public schools. With the bill also a centerpiece of Gov. Chris Christie’s education agenda, proponents said it would apply to more than 80,000 students overall, from districts such as Camden, Newark, Jersey City and Elizabeth. They also said the thresholds were in line with New Jersey’s high cost of living. On the other side of the debate, opponents called the measure an escalating drain of public funds for private schools, citing a legislative staff report that said the program could cost the state $1 billion over five years in lost tax revenues. A few of the parochial school leaders at the hearing said both the tuition and the income thresholds were higher than they had sought for their beleaguered schools. They said the scholarship amounts would easily cover their tuition, which can dip as low as $4,000 for elementary school and $8,000 for high school. Previous versions of the bill had been a few thousand dollars lighter, at $6,000 for elementary and $9,000 for high schools. But the school leaders weren’t complaining, either, and they and others said the proposal isn’t just about saving low-cost parochial schools. “We didn’t propose the higher figures,” said George Corwell, associate director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference, who has been part of the debate for more than 20 years. "Still, we didn’t want to quash the idea of bringing in other schools, too." Sen. Thomas Kean Jr. (R-Union), one of the prime sponsors of the measure, said yesterday that the scholarship amounts were designed to be generous enough to make them attractive to higher-cost schools. Independent school tuitions can go well into the tens of thousands of dollars, with some day schools topping $30,000. "That was done in a way where the bill was not just looking at parochial education, but also how to deliver a quality education where others would enter the fray," said Kean. Income Thresholds The income thresholds were also a point of discussion, he and others said, with the 250 percent of the federal poverty level chosen as a middle point among several comparable cut-offs. For instance, the threshold for those receiving subsidized meals in public schools is as low as 135 percent of the federal poverty level. The state’s Family Care medical coverage program goes to families whose incomes are as high as 350 percent the federal poverty level. "Look at where we are living, we’re a high-cost state," Kean said. "We wanted to cover those who are struggling." But others took some jabs at the so-called low-income thresholds, saying they would actually cover many public employees -- including those in Christie’s crosshairs of late. "That means a family with three children would qualify at $64,000," said Barbara Keshishian, president of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), the teachers union, which has led the opposition to the measure. "That’s about the average salary of teachers in New Jersey, who Gov. Christie has claimed are overpaid." Politickernj.com ‘Stung by budget committee vote, Buono crowd drills Christie's education agenda’ By Max Pizarro | January 20th, 2011 - 7:17pm EDISON - Fighting words punctuated state Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono's (D-Metuchen) high school auditorium town meeting tonight in anticipation of Gov. Chris Christie's budget address and expansion of his education initiative that Buono believes stands to further batter public schools. "To take any more money from our public school system is unconscionable," Buono said to sustained applause shortly after a senate budget committee passed the Opportunity Scholarship Act, which critics fear would soften the way for school vouchers. That fresh move salted year-old wounds. The Republican governor made deep cuts to education in 2010. Now, against an unfolding privatization narrative, including emboldened pro vouchers proponents in both parties, Buono sought community resistance traction. "I wanted to put a human face on Christie's $1 billion cuts to education," said Buono, beckoning to the two-hour-long line of outraged citizens, many of them women armed with stats and the animal warmth of an anti-Christie crowd. Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-South Plainfield) and Assemblyman Peter Barnes (D-Edison) joined Buono onstage. "You know, many of you know that I'm the son of Irish immigrants and my daughter's a teacher," said Diegnan. "You can already hear a change in the tone (since Christie went to war last year with the New Jersey Teachers' Association) in the school, with teachers being blamed." Here tonight, people pinned blame squarely on the shoulders of the governor for "truly frightening proposals," including an upswell of charter schools and vouchers. The trudging line of irritation over Christie's education agenda included mothers whose children's class sizes bulged at the start of the school year, students complaining about downsized resources, and at least one jock in a varsity jacket bewildered by the lack of school bus service to football games. "In some school districts, parents are now paying $1,000 for extracurricluar actitives," Diegan groaned. "The governor talks about our 200 failing schools," said Buono. But "In the State of New Jersey, we have 2,485 schools. I don't think that's a bad percentage." Flemington teacher Marie Corfield famously jousted with the GOP governor late last year at a Hunterdon County town hall and subsequently did the television talk show circuit as a Christie cage match survivor. "What this man is doing is an assault on everyone in this room," said Corfield to applause. Bob Russo, a former mayor of Montclair who's poised to run again for Essex County freeholder, said he was discussing President John F. Kennedy earlier today with his political science students. "President Kennedy said 'Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country,' and I think we're clearly at the point where we must ask not what our schools can do for us but what we can do for our schools," Russo said. Nj.com Statehouse Bureau ‘N.J. town hall meeting in Edison highlights education cuts’ Published: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 9:21 PM Updated: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 11:50 PM By Ginger Gibson/Statehouse Bureau EDISON — A community meeting conducted tonight by state Sen. Barbara Buono to talk about cuts to education funding doubled as a pep rally for teachers and parents who expressed concern public education is under siege. The Edison High School auditorium was full of teachers, principals and students, and more than two and half hours of testimony highlighted the impact of reductions in state aid to schools last year. Buono said the meeting was important to bring residents together to create a louder voice against the "abandonment of public education." "We have to let the governor know that we care," Buono said. Teachers and school expressed concern that schools are being depicted by Gov. Chris Christie as failing across the board. Teachers expressed concern that high-performing schools are suffering with drastic budget reductions. "We have 2,485 schools and the governor talks about 200 failing schools," Buono said. "I don't think that's such a bad percentage." Attendees cheered as Marie Corfield, a Flemington art teacher, outlined the positive steps being taken by schools. Corfield became an informal spokeswoman for teachers after an exchange between her and Christie became a YouTube sensation. "I am passionate with every fiber of my being about public education," Corfield said. "We have one of the best public education systems in our country bar none." Leaders from the Save Our Schools distributed fliers and encouraged parents to join the efforts to protest education cuts that were implemented by Christie. Attendees cheered when Buono and other speakers railed on Christie's proposal to approve a large number charter schools and vouchers. Several Edison High School teachers testified at the meeting, expressing concern that budget cuts have led to an elimination of all after-school programs and an increase in class sizes. Ammaarah Khan, the senior class vice president of Edison High School, approached the microphone and declared that her home is the address of the school. "I don't like my house burning, and I see it burning," Khan said, speaking without notes. "It's not only our education that we're hurting. We're hurting the possibility to make a difference." Students provided stories of broken lockers and eliminated honor societies. "This year's class sizes are so much bigger that not only is it harder, there is not enough seats, and some students are sitting on broken seats," senior Samantha Briant said.