State of New Jersey Archives: on Education

Steve Fulop: Returned city public school system from state control

This is a story about policy & public education. It's a story about returning control of public schools to where it should be: local. But it's also a story about something more fundamental--about remembering who our schools, our community is supposed to serve: kids.

In 1989, when the papers reported on why Jersey City schools were being turned over to the state, they said the schools were "crippled by political patronage and nepotism, weak administration and management, fiscal irregularities, and indifference." And they weren't wrong. We had schools that didn't put students first. Someone said we were suffering from "academic bankruptcy."

We have rebuilt "our academic credit." Of course, this is just the beginning. Local control does not mean our schools can't improve. They can. They will.

Tom MacArthur: Tenure reform & charter schools; but public schools too

Jeff Bell: Expand school choice via Education Savings Accounts

A: The opportunity for a quality education should not depend on where a child lives. That's why programs to expand school choice, through vouchers and tax credits, have been worthwhile for those states that have done it. However, I believe Education Savings Accounts as pioneered by the Goldwater Institute in Arizona make the most sense as the appropriate vehicle for school choice. These provide parents with a pre-funded account (for Arizona, it's 90% of average student spending) to can be used to not only purchase tuition, but also textbooks, education therapies, and tutoring. This provides for a holistic funding mechanism for education where we fund children rather than institutions and spending decisions are in the hands of parents, not bureaucracies.

Jeff Bell: I support prayer in schools

A: I support prayer in schools and public displays of religion.

Cory Booker: Supports school voucher proposal, like other Democrats

When Booker responded that he, too, believes in public schools and that he helped bring $100 million in philanthropic funds into the city's school system, Booker said both Pallone and Holt had voted in favor of the Washington DC Opportunity Scholarship Program--a voucher-like program that gives scholarships to low-income children. "While they're criticizing me I'd like them both to explain why they voted for the same position I have," Booker said. The vote Booker referenced was actually a much larger appropriations bill that included the program.

Rush Holt: Investments in higher education keep American Dream alive

"These are the investments that kept the American Dream alive in the 20th century--investments such as the GI Bill, which made it possible for a young Frank Lautenberg to go to college, to build a business and to join the United States Senate," Holt said.

Barbara Buono: Provide equitable K-12 funding across New Jersey

She has stood up to Christie when he's attempted to scapegoat our teachers rather than give them the tools they need. And Barbara knows that we need rigorous standards as well as expanded early-learning programs so that we ensure every child can meet those standards.

When it comes to higher education, too many New Jersey families are finding college out of reach because of spiraling tuition costs that are rising far faster than inflation. Barbara will work to hold down tuition costs while partnering businesses with New Jersey's colleges; so students get the skills they need for good jobs.

Chris Christie: Combine $8.9B in more funding with needed reform

• Ensuring accountability by passing the first major reform of tenure in 100 years;
• Establishing performance-based pay in Newark through hard-nosed collective bargaining;
• Implementing inter-district school choice, which has tripled its enrollment in the last 3 years and will grow to 6,000 students next year;
• Growing the number of charter schools to a record 86 in NJ;
• Signing the Urban Hope Act to turn failing schools into Renaissance Schools in Newark, Trenton, and Camden;

Chris Christie: Replace Abbott District funds with tenure reform & charters

1. reform tenure--by taking it away from those whose ratings are unacceptably weak.
2. if layoffs are necessary remove the least effective teachers instead of just the most junior ones.
3. pay teachers more when they are assigned to a failing school or to teach a difficult subject.
4. end forced placements--teachers should not be assigned to schools without the mutual consent of the teacher and the principal.
5. reform our process for authorizing charter schools to focus on our failing school districts

Chris Christie: Expand 73 charter schools to replace 200 failing schools

Over 100,000 students are trapped in nearly 200 failing schools. We need to tell those children, and those families, trapped in poor schools that we are coming--and that before this Legislature goes home we will give them more help toward improvement, more hope, and more choice. We must expand the charter school program beyond the six we approved this year and the 73 operating in New Jersey. That is a top priority. I am ready to work with the Legislature to attract the best charter school operators in America to New Jersey; to increase our authorizing capacity so they can start charter schools here; & to implement the interdistrict school choice law we passed last year.

Cory Booker: $120 million for "Teachers Village" where educators live

Chris Christie: Build up colleges to support business, & avoid "brain drain"

The result of that is what the former U.S. Attorney calls the "brain drain"--referring to trends that show fewer high school graduates stay in New Jersey for college, and those who do end up leaving after earning a diploma.

Lagging colleges also lead business leaders to see the state differently. Companies seek to have long-term, "intellectual relationships" with educational institutions but might not be able to if schools aren't built up enough to attract students, he said. Businesses need access to practical and research support from colleges, as well as a trained workforce, he said.

Chris Daggett: Names educator, Prof. Frank Esposito, as running-mate

Murray Sabrin: Federal tax credits to enroll children in successful school

1. secure our country from both foreign terror and illegal immigration
2. secure our economic future by getting government off our backs and out of our wallets, and
3. securing our education for our children by introducing competition into the failed educational bureaucracy.

Robert Menendez: Democrats pushed college tuition tax deductions

Robert Menendez: Reducing duplication is no solution for education problems

KEAN: It is vital that we ensure that aid to low-income students is our principle goal and the first priority of the system must be direct aid to students. We must reduce fraud in the current system. Pell Grant fraud cost $600 million between 2001 to 2004. Through the use of technology, we can curb systemic fraudulent abuse of the system. We should look for ways to merge duplicative programs and streamline federal regulation to provide additional savings.

MENENDEZ: My opponent isn’t interested in more funding and research for New Jersey’s public colleges and universities. Calling to combine a few federal programs is not a solution. In the state senate, Tom Kean Jr. consistently voted against state budgets providing financial aid for higher education. And, now he is merely providing cookie-cutter rhetoric to legitimate questions as to how we can expand access to the halls of higher learning.

Robert Menendez: Educational Savings Accounts are only for the wealthy

KEAN: While my opponent voted against the creation of Educational Savings Accounts, I believe they are an important component in providing educational opportunities for young people and parents. Parents and others can contribute collectively up to $2,000 each year to a Coverdell education savings account to be used for qualified educational expenses, like home computers, books, supplies, after-school programs, tuition, and tutoring programs. I think Congress should provide tax deductibility as an incentive to spur greater savings.

MENENDEZ: Tom Kean Jr. has no plan to help New Jersey’s families pay for college. And, he has no plan to increase financial aid. The only plan Tom Kean Jr. has-on this and nearly every issue-is to do whatever President Bush tells him to. Unlike my opponent, I believe that wealth and privilege ought not to be the only tickets to higher education.

Thomas Kean Jr.: Focus on reducing fraud and duplication in Pell Grants

KEAN: It is vital that we ensure that aid to low-income students is our principle goal and the first priority of the system must be direct aid to students. We must reduce fraud in the current system. Pell Grant fraud cost $600 million between 2001 to 2004. Through the use of technology, we can curb systemic fraudulent abuse of the system. We should look for ways to merge duplicative programs and streamline federal regulation to provide additional savings.

MENENDEZ: My opponent isn’t interested in more funding and research for New Jersey’s public colleges and universities. Calling to combine a few federal programs is not a solution. In the state senate, Tom Kean Jr. consistently voted against state budgets providing financial aid for higher education. And, now he is merely providing cookie-cutter rhetoric to legitimate questions as to how we can expand access to the halls of higher learning.

Thomas Kean Jr.: Supports Educational Savings Accounts for college

KEAN: While my opponent voted against the creation of Educational Savings Accounts, I believe they are an important component in providing educational opportunities for young people and parents. Parents and others can contribute collectively up to $2,000 each year to a Coverdell education savings account to be used for qualified educational expenses, like home computers, books, supplies, after-school programs, tuition, and tutoring programs. I think Congress should provide tax deductibility as an incentive to spur greater savings.

MENENDEZ: Tom Kean Jr. has no plan to help New Jersey’s families pay for college. And, he has no plan to increase financial aid. The only plan Tom Kean Jr. has-on this and nearly every issue-is to do whatever President Bush tells him to. Unlike my opponent, I believe that wealth and privilege ought not to be the only tickets to higher education.