The State Board of Education has controlled Jersey City's public schools since 1989. Although the takeover was originally billed as a solution to the City's education funding crisis, Mayor Schundler says that it has clearly been a financial failure:
"Since 1989, our school tax rate has increased 48%, and the portion of our budget that is devoted to the public schools has risen to a recent high [38.6%]. Clearly, the state has failed to institute adequate cost controls."
Schundler has made tough cuts in the City budget, resulting in back to back cuts in the municipal tax rate, but persistent increases in the County and school budgets threaten the future fiscal solvency of Jersey City.
accommodation in StuttgartAnd while the Mayor has asked the State to take on more financial responsibility in the short-term, he hopes that the next Governor will realize that a permanent solution to the State's education funding crisis will require a fundamental change the way New Jersey finances education.
Mayor Schundler believes that school choice is the one way that the State can control the cost of education, while at the same time, improve the quality of education in public and private schools. He has proposed a pilot school voucher plan for Jersey City, entitled the "Tax Expenditure Neutral, Education Opportunity Act," that would use a portion of the state's current education aid to finance vouchers for parents who choose to send their children to private school. Because all of Jersey City's local tax dollars would continue to fund the City's public schools, even though some students may transfer to the private school system, the Mayor's plan would result in higher per-pupil expenditures in the public schools without increasing state or local taxes.
When asked why the state should help parents pay private school tuition, Schundler responded:
"Our private schools are being bankrupted by constantly rising taxes which make it impossible for parents to pay both taxes and tuition. If our private schools fail, and their students are forced to transfer to the public school system, then taxpayers will have to spend an extra $130 million per year on Jersey City's public schools. This is at a time when the State already has a large structural deficit, and Jersey City residents are already over-burdened by unbearably high property taxes."
With over 41% of Jersey City residents living on "fixed incomes,"the Mayor fears that further increases in property taxes to fund increases in the County and school budget will drive many families into poverty and destroy the economic base of the City.