Christie Plans New Ways to Block Vulnerable NJ Students From Quality Education

Political conservatives, lead by arrogant politicians who clearly want to deprive the poor and vulnerable of any chance of escaping roles as menial laborers or fodder for a privatized prison system eager to house an expanding prison population: societal roles that coincidentally, provide creature comforts, and even riches, to too many – have a new plan for making quality education even less attainable for New Jersey’s most vulnerable students. They’ve appropriately named this tool of destruction the “Urban Hope Act”, as it hopes to make possible the future exploitation of young urban poor for many, many years to come. Sad to say that although Christie is spearheading this initiative, which makes sense given his politics, seriously misguided South Jersey Democrats have apparently gotten on board the bandwagon to help him destroy these kids’ futures, and that’s Just Not Right.

The ELC testified at NJ Assembly budget hearings.

Governor Christie and the Schools Development Authority have backed a shutdown, “now entering its third year, (which) has stranded over 52 major school facilities projects, many of which are “shovel ready” and in which taxpayers have already invested over $300 million in land acquisition, site remediation and architectural designs. In addition, the SDA has refused to address hundreds of emergency health and safety projects in some of the oldest, most dilapidated school buildings in the state, forcing thousands of students and teachers to endure dangerous, unsafe and unhealthy conditions every day.”

Simply put, if this Legislature stood with the parents, students, teachers and staff in these communities and collectively and forcefully pressed the SDA to restart the dozens of stalled and shovel-ready projects, such as the Lanning Square school project in Camden, not only would we get these students housed in safe and educationally adequate schools quickly, but this bill would be entirely unnecessary.

Stan Karp of the Education Law Center, share links and thoughts relevant to the issue:

‘Urban Hope Act’ opens door to for-profits, no bid contracts, land grabs

On Thursday, the Senate and Assembly Budget committees will hold hearings on the proposed Urban Hope Act sponsored by Sen. Donald Norcross (D.-Camden/Gloucester) and Assemblyman Angel Fuentes (D-Camden). The bill would give private entities, both for profit and non-profit, access to public funds to finance and build “renaissance schools” in specially-designated districts including Camden, Newark and Jersey City.  For each enrolled student, the state would provide 95% of district per pupil spending (more than the 90% charters now receive). In addition, such schools could be managed by private educational management organizations under no bid contracts. The bill would also potentially authorize the transfer of land acquired for public use under the school construction program to private hands.

NJ Spotlight: Fast-Tracked and Rewritten Bill Could Put Some Public Schools Under Private Management

First proposed by Gov. Chris Christie and since taken up by South Jersey Democrats, a plan that would open up select public schools to nonprofit or even for-profit management appears poised for passage in the final days of the legislature’s lame duck session.

Save Our Schools-NJ: RED ALERT! NJ Senate Poised to Enhance Corruption of Public Education

“The “Enhancing Urban Corruption” bill, otherwise known as “The Urban Hope Act,” will be heard by the NJ Senate Budget Committee on Thursday, January 5th at 1 pm.  This awful bill could be law by the second week of January.”

From Save Our Schools New Jersey

Here’s how this bill could work:

I start a nonprofit and get a contact with the Camden school board to run a Renaissance school. My cousins are all in business – one owns some land, another has a construction company, and another manages schools. I contract with each of them – no public bids required – to use the land and build the school and manage the school. The funding for building the school is from bonds issued by the school board and guaranteed by the NJ School Bond Reserve Act. If I default, the State of NJ pays the bond and takes it out of future funding to the Camden School Board. So the kids in Camden and NJ taxpayers are on the hook if a bunch of for-profits mess up. Once the school is up and running, the funding comes from the Camden public schools, at 95% of the district’s average, with all the additional special needs, limited English proficient and poverty funding that those students warrant. Sounds like a great business model, no? Can you imagine corruption occurring anywhere in this mix?

Where this could lead.

The Miami Herald – Cashing In On Kids: Florida charter schools: big money, little oversight.

Florida’s charter school movement has grown into $400-million-a-year powerhouse backed by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians, but with little oversight

Minneapolis Star Tribune: State charter schools program is ‘out of control’
Minnesota’s charter school movement, which sparked a national rethinking of public schooling nearly two decades ago, has been infected by an out-of-control financing system fueled by junk bonds, insider fees and lax oversight. State law prohibits charter schools from owning property, but consultants have found a legal loophole, allowing proponents to use millions of dollars in public money to build schools even though the properties remain in the hands of private nonprofit corporations.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *