State legislators are not supposed to find public funding for Catholic schools. This is crossing the line of separation between church and state. And it makes it very clear that the bill is not about school choice at all.See, the NJEA should not be advocating for the unionization of teachers, even though that's their job and unionization gives teachers better pay, benefits, and working conditions.
Oddly enough, Lesniak, who has been a loud advocate for same-sex marriage and non-discrimination based on sexual orientation, is looking to hand over tax dollars to institutions that can legally discriminate if a policy is contrary to its beliefs.
How frank a discussion will there be about safe sex in urban Catholic high schools? What are the odds that a gay/lesbian alliance would be permitted as a club in a Catholic school? Why should public funds be used to teach children that Jesus was the Messiah, or if a parent wanted their child in a yeshiva, that the Messiah has not arrived? When did the Messiah become part of a “thorough and efficient education”?
Meanwhile the New Jersey Education Association continues to do itself no favors by not seeing past its nose. No one believes the NJEA’s sole complaint with the bill is that vouchers will undermine public education. Private schools do not have to hire unionized teachers. Vouchers also undermine the NJEA. The NJEA needs to play on a higher plane.
Vouchers do not just undermine public schools; vouchers elevate faith-based schools with public dollars. Forget about teacher contracts. Talk about the Constitution.
No, they should be constitutional scholars! Duh! Of course, Doblin makes the same argument as the NJEA later - that tax dollars shouldn't be diverted from public schools. But it's different because...uh...
Well, it is. Or something.
Even when the union comes down on the same side of an issue as Doblin, he still slams them, because he MUST appear to be in the soft, squishy, impartial middle...
Al Doblin (staff photo)
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