N.J. Gov. Chris Christie pushes for education changes with speech in Washington

By Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau, May 03, 2010, 6:00PM

WASHINGTON — A lightning rod at home for his deep cuts to school funding, Gov. Chris Christie came to the nation’s capital tonight to push for education reforms — and announced he will support a scholarship program allowing students to opt out of 200 "chronically failing" New Jersey schools.

Calling it "the first step" that will "lead to school vouchers across the state of New Jersey," Christie said the bill, now pending in the Legislature, would allow parents of all means to make a choice like he has made to send his four children to Catholic school.

"A single mother in Newark, working two jobs to keep a roof over her child’s head, should have no less of an ability to make that choice," the Republican governor said. "Her child’s life is no less precious than ours. Her child’s future is no less promising than ours."

Christie spelled out his vision for education reform in a 30-minute keynote speech to about 200 people hosted by the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy group. He was joined by his wife, Mary Pat, education Commissioner Bret Schundler and chief of staff Rich Bagger.

The new bill (S1872), set for a hearing next week, would allow low-income students in "chronically failing" schools to get scholarships they could use to pay tuition at private schools or public schools in other communities. Doled out through a lottery system, the 24,000 scholarships would be funded by corporate donors who would get a break on their state taxes.

Schools would be classified as "chronically failing" if at least 40 percent of their students fail to demonstrate proficiency on statewide math and language arts tests for two years in a row, or if at least 65 percent of students failed either test. Bill co-sponsors Sens. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Union) and Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) said there are more than 200 schools in more than 30 districts that now qualify. Earlier bills targeted fewer than 10 urban districts.

"There are multiple schools that have failed eight or seven years, and they’re not getting any better," Lesniak said.

Christie, who campaigned on ideas like vouchers and more charter schools, has signaled education reforms will be his next major policy initiative after signing a state budget by June 30. His $29.3 billion budget proposes slicing $820 million in aid to local school districts, which led thousands of high school students to walk out of class last week in protest of planned teacher layoffs and program cuts.

"New Jersey’s fiscal problems will never be fixed in the long term if we don’t fix our educational system," the governor said tonight.

In a news release titled "Mr. Christie Goes to Washington," a coalition of education and community advocacy groups slammed the scholarships idea today, saying that over the course of five years the bill would siphon $360 million in corporate tax revenue that is "desperately needed to fund public schools."

"This is not about ‘school choice,’" said James Harris, president of the New Jersey NAACP. "This is about using precious public funds to subsidize private and religious education."

The New Jersey Education Association, the teachers’ union that has been feuding with Christie, and the Education Law Center, which advocates on behalf of children in the poorest districts, oppose the bill. The law center says it "fails to apply rigorous educational standards and accountability measures to all schools receiving public dollars."

Andrew Campanella, a spokesman for the American Federation for Children. He said New Jersey has become "a key battleground for school choice" because of Christie’s election.