Delayed But Determined
by Elaine Pofeldt
The Jersey Journal, Saturday
January 14, 1995
Mayor Bret Schundler pressed onward in his quest to bring school vouchers to Jersey City yesterday, despite Gov. Christie Whitman's action this week that delayed his citywide pilot voucher program for up to a year.
In meetings with workers from two unions yesterday, Schundler tried to drum up support for the controversial vouchers he is offering to city workers.
The unions-the Jersey City Supervisor's Association and Public Employees, Local 245- are scheduled to vote on whether to add the voucher benefit to their recently settled contracts on January 24.
City Councilman Jaime Vazquez, who opposes school vouchers, attacked Schundler for holding the meetings during the workday.
"I thinlk it's really an abuse of executive authority,: Vazquez said after the meeting at City Hall. "All of these people are city employees, on city time."
Schundler has proposed giving union members who live in Jersey City a $500-per-year tuition voucher for each of their dependent children who attends a private or parochial school. Workers would be able to begin using the vouchers in September. It would probably be considered taxable income, he said.
Schundler tried to convince workers who gathered at City hall and the Palisade Avenue office yesterday that the vouchers would benefit them whether or not they had children in school.
He argued that if fewer children attended Jersey City's overcrowded public schools, the city would save money on building new schools.
"Every employee of Jersey City is going to benefit if the city is not on the brink of financial collapse," Schundler said.
Jersey City must contribute $2,548 toward the $8,480 cost-per-student for the 1994-1995 school year. Schundler warned that the city may have to increase the tax rate for the school system to offset millions of dollars in costs for construction projects involving Schools 3, 17, and 28.
Schundler said he met with Governor Whitman on Thursday to ask for more than $6 million in additional state aid to support the city's state-operated school district. But he said, :I don't think we're going to get much."
City officials have calculated that 133 employees in the two unions could benefit from the vouchers. Employees in the group have 189 school-age children and 126 children under 5 years old among them.
Several workers at yesterday's meetings said privately that they oppose the vouche but declined to discuss it on the record, citing fear of political retribution.
"I would support a better spread of kids who can take the choice," said Joey George, who runs the CitySpirit arts program for the Department of Recreation and Cultural Affairs. But George said he wanted to make sure there were checks and balances in the system so that no one could falsely claim the voucher benefit.
Ben Bruno, president of Local 245, took a positive view. "It's a benefit-that's how I look at it," Bruno said (the city is) not asking for anything in return."
The Schundler administration tried last month to add the voucher benefit to Local 245's contract after it had been ratified, but the union refused to accept it without a vote.
State Sens. Bernard F. Kennedy, Edward T. O'connor and Nicholas Sacco later asked Sen. John Ewing, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, to hold hearings to determine if Schundler's offer was an attempt to bypass the Legislature and initiate a school voucher plan. Schundler accused the three Hudson County Democrats of making a political attack.
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First in a series by Anthony Olszewski – Click HERE to find out more.
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