USA Today
September 27, 1994

Your editorial about the physical condition of our schools did not address the central point in the education financing debate ("Invest now in our schools," Our View, Debate, Sept. 13).

It's time we realized the most important thing about schools is not the physical amenities offered in their buildings, but the quality of education provided in their classrooms.

In Jersey City, N.J., we spend about $9,000 a year to educate a child. Yet fewer than half our ninth-graders graduate from high school. For the past five years, the state Department of Education has run our schools. Despite putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls and replacing our administrators, nothing has really changed. While the school budget has grown from $196 million to $267 million -- a 36% increase -- student standardized test scores and graduation rates have not significantly improved.

That's why I proposed a pilot reform program for Jersey City that will improve our children's education.

My plan would let parents and teachers establish publicly funded charter schools that operate independently of the local district bureaucracy, give existing public schools freedom to create specialized courses and provide tuition assistance to parents who send children to privately managed schools.

To help ensure that our public, private and charter schools are accountable, my program will require participating schools to publicize their graduation rates and standardized test scores. Instead of making schools accountable by fulfilling mandates created by bureaucrats, this disclosure will make schools accountable for results.

Public education unions remain opposed to reforms that give parents choice. I couldn't disagree more.