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The New York Times
Sunday, January 2, 1994
The idea of using public money to pay for private school education in the state moved significantly closer to reality. Recently when Gov.-elect Christine Todd Whitman named Dr. Leo Klagholz as her choice for Commissioner of Education. Mrs. Whitman's choice of Dr. Klagholz, a longtime advocate of voucher programs, along with her political debt to another advocate, Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, may finally be the catalyst that ushers in the state's first pilot school voucher program. Under such a program parents who send their children to private schools would receive money to help pay part or perhaps all of their tuition.
Proponents of school vouchers say such a program, which they hope to present to the Legislature by early spring would ultimately improve the quality of education across the state for two reasons. First, they say, a private school education, superior to that in most public schools, would become possible for children whose parents cannot now afford it. Second, educational services could be upgraded for students who remain in government- run schools just by using education funds the state already collects and distributes.
WILL PUBLIC SCHOOLS SUFFER A STUDENT EXODUS?
But critics, including some legislators, teachers' union officials and civil libertarians say the concept of school vouchers is inherently flawed and potentially unconstitutional. They say that using tax dollars to finance education in private schools--many of which are run by religious organizations-- is a violation of the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state.
Moreover, they say vouchers create more problems than they solve and will ultimately foster academic segregation. Highly motivated students will move to private schools, they say, leaving the worst of the worst in public schools.
Mayor Schundler has a strong interest in starting a voucher program in Jersey City, partly because the school district there was deemed so abysmal by state education officials in 1989 that they seized control from the local board. By most academic measures, little has improved since then, which makes the district, the state second largest with 30,000 students in 36 public schools, a natural model for the potential use of vouchers in other areas of NJ voucher proponents say.
Many the states have considered the idea of using vouchers or the called school choice plans since the mid-1960s, but only Wisconsin and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have adapted voucher laws, and then only on a limited basis.
"There"s no reason why parents should have to wait for government-run schools to get better," Mayor Schundler said. "If the government-run schools aren't doing their job, we shouldn't let a child's future slip past."
Mr. Schundler, the first Republican to be elected Mayor of Jersey City since 1917, played a role in Mrs. Whitman's victory over governor Jim Florio last November when he endorsed the Republican candidate and undermined Mr. Florio's support in the overwhelmingly Democratic city. Mrs. Whitman, who had professed support of school vouchers during her campaign, has said she endorses Mr. Schundler's plan to make Jersey City her test case.
"Her endorsement was to try an experiment with vouchers in Jersey City, which our people very much support, "Mr. Schundler said. "And no one need be threatened by it."
Under Mr. Schundler's plan, parents of every child attending private school would receive some form of financial assistance. The amount would depend upon the total number of children attending private schools.
Mr. Schundler said his plan would not cost taxpayers any more than they are now paying. The money the city would use to pay the vouchers, he said, is already being provided by the state, in grants called foundation aid.
For every student in the Jersey City public schools, the state gives the city about $4500 in state aid. Under Mr. Schundler's proposal, the state would provide the money, but it would be placed into a special trust fund to be divided equally among the parents of all the children attending private schools.
Mr. Schundler said there are now about ten thousand students in private schools in Jersey City, under his proposal, if one thousand additional students transferred to those schools from the public schools then $4.5 million of state aid would go into the trust fund. That $4.5 Million would be divided equally among the total of 11,000 students attending private schools, giving each private school student about $400 in aid, regardless of the parents' financial resources.
While $400 would not cover even the tuition cost, Much less transportation and supplies-- at most private schools, Mr. Schundler said it would still be a considerable saving off the average $1100 yearly tuition at private elementary schools in Jersey City.
"If I take a third off your rent, that would make a difference, wouldn't it?" he said.
RETAINING THE MONEY
At the same time, Mr. Schundler said, the matching $4500 in local tax dollars that had been raised to educate those 1000 former public school students would remain in the public school budget, providing vouchers now, he said is bleak. "Let's say all my private schools close, he said, explaining that over the last 15 years, about 50 percent of the private schools in the city had shut their doors.
"Every time an additional child goes into the public school system, it costs taxpayers another $9000," he said. Add to that the capital costs of building enough new schools to house the students now in private schools, Mr Schundler said, " and what happens is taxes become so high that you make it impossible for a middle class person to live here."
hotels in HamburgMr. Schundler said that he was now fine-tuning his plan which would be presented to the Legislature by early spring and hopes to have a voucher plan in place for the fall term. Not everyone agrees that school vouchers are a panacea.
"This will decimate the public schools," said Delores T. Corona, director of government relations for the New Jersey Education Association, the Trenton-based organization that represents the state's 146,000 public school employees.
Given vouchers as financial incentives, Ms. Corona said, many parents who had not otherwise considered private school might rush to take their children out of the public school system. But private schools, Ms Corona pointed out, can accept or reject students at will. As a result, she said. The private schools are likely to accept only highly motivated higher aptitude students, leaving the less motivated and academically troubled children in public schools.
"What they're going to do is segregate people," Ms. Corona said. "The private schools will have all the best kids and the public schools will have the remainder."
Assemblyman Anthony Impreveduto, Democrat of Secaucus, agreed. "The fear of vouchers is that they will create an educational ghetto," he said.
Mr. Impreveduto, who is a teacher in Secaucus High School, said such fears were not entirely unfounded. "My own fear is that there will be total abandonment of the public school system, "he said. "And that won't help anyone, including the taxpayers."
Dr Klagholz said such concerns could be addressed through a "state-wide discussion" of the potential advantages and disadvantages of tuition vouchers.
"There are risks in any design," he said. But most can be controlled. My answer is that we should design a pilot that maximizes the risks." One way to do so, he said, would be mandate that private schools accepting public funds alter their admitting procedures. "Maybe we should have regulations for any non public school participates," he said. "Maybe receiving schools out to be required to achieve a demographic balance in the students they accept."
Bohinjsko Jezero prenotazioni alberghiDr. Klagholz said he had not yet examined Mr. Schundler's proposal but was scheduled to meet with him about it in the near future. Ms. Corona, whose organization has stepped up its anti-voucher lobbying efforts since the election of Mrs. Whitman and the nomination of Dr. Kalgholz, expressed another common objection to public financing of private education. "Religiously affiliated schools generally indoctrinate their children with religious issues," she said. "There will be all kinds of indoctrination going on."
There's really a serious question about separation of church and state," she added. "The Federal courts have repeatedly struck down plans to give public money to church-affiliated schools." Civil liberties advocates agree. "We are opposed to any school voucher program that includes private religious schools, said Edward Martone, executive director of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "It's an indirect subsidy of religion to give people public money to go spend to support a religious school."
hotels in Albufeira"JUST A RED HERRING?"
Mr. Schundler disagreed. "That's just a red herring," he said. "The Supreme Court has made it almost unquestionable that they would support a scholarship program where the support is given to the parents. Then if the parents choose a religious school, that's their First Amendment right." Yet another common objection to tuition vouchers arises from the fact that the state regulations governing public schools often do not extend to private schools. "They don't have to have certified teachers," Ms. Corona said, referring to the requirement that teachers in public schools must be certified while those in private schools do not. "They're not under the rules of the state."
Private school administrators bristle at such charges. "I get outraged when I hear stuff like that, said Antoinette Golgia, principal of Our Lady of Victories elementary school in Jersey City. "I think there's a misconception that Catholic schools will put a warm body in a classroom. But I can tell you that I don't hire any people who aren't certified or degreed."
Assemblyman Impreveduto, who said the evolving political landscape in New Jersey could make vouchers " a real possiblilty, if not a probability," offered a succinct appraisal of the debate. "It's going to be a hot, hot issue," he said. "And it isn't as cut and dried as it seems.