Useless Vouchers

So Cory Booker, George Norcross, and Chris Christie spent the week going on and on about how vouchers will "save" our failing children schools. The facts seem to matter little to these three, so rather than go over them yet again, let's see if what they are saying makes any sense whatsoever.

Booker:

"We have created a system that chokes out potential of millions of children trapped in schools that deny the beauty of their genius," Booker said. "We need to get the Opportunity Scholarship Act passed because we need to lift the bar higher."

Mr. Mayor, there are a scant few parochial schools left in your city or elsewhere in New Jersey. The very elite private schools are pretty much full. How will putting a very few children into the few seats available "lift the bar higher"? And if that's the goal, will you agree not to give OSA vouchers to children who are already enrolled in private schools?

Norcross:

"By 2014 in Camden, we will have two schools with longer school years, longer school hours, tutoring for students and more," Norcross said. "These schools will be state of the art — the envy of any suburban school district."

Boss, if a longer school day, longer school year, tutoring, and "more" are so good for kids, why don't we do that for every kid in Camden? If the state self-insured all public employees, we could save a boatload of money and use it to fund all of this. Wouldn't that be swell? I'm sure you agree, right?

Christie:

“Parents cannot wait for us to get it together anymore,” Christie said. “In New Jersey, we’ve been trying to figure this out for 30 years. We’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars and we still haven’t got it.”

Governor, New Jersey has cut the achievement gap in half over those 30 years. Would you prefer to give those gains back?

Let's be very clear about this: no matter how these plutocrats sell it, vouchers will do little for the children of New Jersey. They may help to salve the consciences of the insanely wealthy who push them, like the DeVos family, but they have no real educational value.

Julia Sass Rubin explains more:

Watch Save Our Schools NJ Representative Opposes School Vouchers on PBS.  See more from WNJT.