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Schools give gubernatorial foes lots of room to differ
Originally appeared in on After Bret D. Schundler spoke in February at a luncheon meeting of New Jersey's largest teachers' union, the head of the group joked that he was proud of the restraint shown by the teachers in the audience.
"They didn't throw silverware," said Michael Johnson, president of the New Jersey Education Association.
That remark illustrates the key difference between the education platforms of the two major-party candidates for governor.
With a variety of modest proposals -- the most daring of which is to hire reading "coaches" at 800 schools with subpar test scores -- Democrat James E. McGreevey is comfortably within the ranks of the education establishment.
Schundler, the Republican nominee, wants to break that establishment wide open.
A passionate supporter of "school choice" -- a general term used for charter schools, vouchers, and other alternatives to traditional public schools -- Schundler has proposals that are anything but modest.
His tax-credit proposal, designed to encourage more low-income students to attend private or parochial schools, has been the biggest education topic in the campaign. Schundler says it would save the state $480 million a year.
McGreevey says it would not work, citing a study by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services that said the plan would instead cost taxpayers at least $199 million a year while draining money from public schools.
Schundler also seeks a dramatic expansion in the number of charter schools - publicly funded schools that operate independently of local school boards. He has proposed allowing teachers to create charter schools within a school, for which they would receive a certain amount of district money for each participating pupil. The plan would reduce administrative costs and give parents more choice, he said.
Campaigning last month in Ewing Township, McGreevey acknowledged that some of the state's public schools were failing and needed to be fixed. But he said Schundler's tax-credit plan was tantamount to abandoning them.
"Now is not the time to turn our backs on public education," the Democrat said.
Schundler, speaking at Rutgers University two weeks ago, countered that the current system does not give parents enough control over their children's education.
"We're throwing more money at a system that does not address the very different needs of different children," the Republican said.
Schundler's tax credits would work like this:
New Jerseyans would get 75 cents off their income taxes for every dollar they donated to any organization that offers scholarships to students attending private or parochial schools. The maximum credit for individuals would be $10,000. For corporations, it would be 10 percent of the company's tax bill. Scholarships would be reserved for New Jersey residents, with two-thirds of the money earmarked for those from low-income families.
The plan also would allow a 50-cent credit against personal income taxes for every dollar spent on school tuition, tutoring, books and home-schooling expenses, up to $500 per child. Also proposed is a 100 percent tax credit for computer hardware or software that is needed for school, up to $150.
Schundler's theory is that the scholarships would lure more than 80,000 children to private and parochial schools, many of which have available seats. That would ease crowding in public schools and save money by reducing the need to build more classrooms, he said.
The state also would save thousands of dollars in state aid for each pupil who leaves the public schools, Schundler reasons.
But the Office of Legislative Services said his projections were overly optimistic in a number of ways. For instance, it said, they do not take adequate measure of the number of scholarships that would be snapped up by students who already attend private schools.
The study found the actual net transfer of students would be less than a quarter of what Schundler projects -- about 18,000, an average of six to nine students per school. McGreevey and other critics say marginally lower enrollments would not help schools save money because they would have to maintain the same number of staff and buildings.
On some issues, the two candidates are on the same page. Both have expressed support for some of the educational concepts that are in vogue, such as holding schools "accountable" and conducting regular standardized tests for students.
Both also pledged to increase state aid to the state's 19 community colleges by $12 million a year over the next three years, in exchange for a promise from the colleges that they would freeze tuition in the 2002-03 school year.
McGreevey's proposals also include a call for more administrative law judges to preside over teacher-tenure hearings and an increase in the qualifying scores on teacher licensing exams.
One big school issue that the new governor will face is the state's 20-year legal battle over money and programs in the 30 "special-needs" districts, among them Camden, Pemberton Township, Gloucester City and Burlington City. In the case, Abbott v. Burke, a state Supreme Court decision on whether the state needs to improve the quality of preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds is pending.
In responses to a questionnaire by the Association for Children of New Jersey, both candidates promised to implement the court's mandates. Whether they follow through remains to be seen. For decades, Republican and Democratic administrations alike have been tinkering with the way the state pays for schools in low-income areas, only to be told again and again by the court that their formulas were inequitable.
The biggest difference between the candidates remains the issue of school choice, specifically in the form of Schundler's tax-credit plan and his call for more charter schools.
McGreevey takes pains to remind voters that, as a state senator, he was a cosponsor of the 1996 state law that authorized the creation of charter schools.
But it is clear from the candidates' rhetoric that McGreevey is more cautious on the issue, preferring to fix the public schools that aren't doing the job, while Schundler has taken the concept of school choice to a new level.
"The parents are not in charge," Schundler told the Rutgers audience. "They don't have options. The bottom line is when parents are the boss, we get schools that ultimately put more money in the classroom."
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