"Judge Sadler's decision is a huge victory for the national school choice movement. Herruling may just be the impetus we need to implement serious education reform in Jersey Cityand beyond, " Schundler said.
The Cleveland school voucher program would provide publicly-funded scholarships to low-income families who want to send their children to the private schools of their choice. Whileopponents of Cleveland's voucher program argued that the pilot program violatedconstitutional provisions guaranteeing the separation of church and state, Judge Sadler saidthat because it was the parents who were choosing the schools, and not the state, no suchviolation existed.
"Many legislators have not enacted school choice programs because they were not confident that they would withstand legal challenge. This victory in Ohio may give a lot oflawmakers a reason to take a second look at this important issue," Schundler said.
Mayor Schundler has pushed for the passage of state legislation which would enact a series ofeducation reforms throughout New Jersey, including: public school choice, the establishmentof charter schools, and the provision of tuition assistance, in the form of a voucher, to parentswho choose to send their children to secular and religious private schools.
Recently, Governor Christine Todd Whitman's Advisory Panel on School Vouchers hasrecommended that the State of New Jersey adopt legislation which would allow one eligibleschool district in each of the state's twenty-one counties to implement a tuition voucher pilotprogram. The pilot programs would begin the first full school year following the enactmentof this legislation.
"Financial limitations force many parents in New Jersey to send their children to PublicSchools, whether or not they are satisfied with the services their children receive. It is timethat parents be given control over where their children go to school," Schundler said.
Attorneys for the Institute for Justice, which serves as legal defense for the Cleveland program,say it is likely that the Ohio ruling will be appealed to a higher court. Lawyers for the teachersunions say that such appeals are planned as are legal maneuvers to keep the program frombeginning this Fall while the matter is under appeal.
Ohio is the second state to create a school choice program. The first program, in Milwaukee,is also under court challenge and goes to trial in Madison on August 15th.