New Jersey: Call Legislature to Support the Urban Scholarship Bill

Many people are unaware of the fact that the Urban Scholarship Bill, which promises to bring as many as 20,000 educational scholarships to children in the poorest New Jersey districts, is being held up by Senator Shirley Turner.

Everyone should call to Senator Shirley Turner (609-530-3277) SenTurner@njleg.org, and explain the importance of providing better educational opportunities for the children who are trapped in the worst schools in our state. As a stateswomen of her community, it is of the utmost importance that she help the poor and downtrodden she represents. This is simply a matter of doing the right thing for the people she represents. All residents of New Jersey, especially those in her district, are urged to call her and plead for the Urban Scholarship legislation (S1332 and A257). As you may have seen, an essay was printed by the Heritage Foundation, authored by the father of “equal educational opportunity” Dr. Milton Friedman, which explains why equal educational opportunity is essential to fix all that is wrong with our educational system. This is a must-read article for every individual who treasures freedom and liberty and the great principles upon which our great country was founded.

To view Dr. Friedman's article, click on the following link:
http://www.insideronline.org/archives/2006/spring/chap4.pdf

A257/ S1332 are Education-Finance bills introduced in the Assembly by Cruz-Perez (D5); Hackett (D27); McKeon (D27) and in the Senate by Doria (D31); and Martin (R26). This bill establishes a pilot program in Department of Treasury to provide tax credits for contributions to entities which provide tuition scholarships to children residing in Camden, Newark, Orange and Trenton or fund innovative public school programs. There has been no further movement of this bill since being referred to the Assembly Education Committee in January.

This bill is supported by New Jersey Network of Catholic School Families, Excellent Education for Everyone (E3), Duke University and Reginald Jackson of the Black Ministers Council.

Call your 3 NJ Legislators: (800) 792-8630 for their numbers or this link:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp

2 posted on 05/30/2006 5:48:50 PM PDT by Coleus (I Support Research using the Ethical, Effective and Moral use of stem cells: non-embryonic)

Sadly I disagree.

This will cause me to support those $14,000 + per year Newark school children, who have been socially promoted, take pseudo college classes. (Do you think even five per cent supported by such programs will know who Mill or Locke are a week after they "graduate"?)

No thanks. Let them take out loans if they believe in themselves; and if they don't why should I?

ML/NJ

This bill is for tuition tax credits and not for vouchers. The public does not pay, rich people and corporations do as they will donate to the fund in return for a tax writeoff. BTW, you already pay for Newark's school children since you pay state income and sales taxes. The state subsidizes the municipality and schools to a tune of almost $1 billion per year.

4 posted on 05/30/2006 6:06:10 PM PDT by Coleus (I Support Research using the Ethical, Effective and Moral use of stem cells: non-embryonic)

The public does not pay, rich people and corporations do

This sounds like a statement Teddy Kennedy would make.

ML/NJ

you will have to read the bill.

it's for tuition tax credits not vouchers. those who donate the money will get a tax write off.

And as I said before, you are already subsidizing newark and the rest of the abbott school districts in NJ through the taxes you pay. The education budget alone is $15 billion and climbing every year.

I don't know why a conservative won't support this bill.

6 posted on 05/30/2006 6:26:27 PM PDT by Coleus (I Support Research using the Ethical, Effective and Moral use of stem cells: non-embryonic)

Why should anybody support this bill? The state already spends enough on those mismanaged urban districts, as decreed by the activist judges of the NJ state superior court.

"BTW, you already pay for Newark's school children since you pay state income and sales taxes. The state subsidizes the municipality and schools to a tune of almost $1 billion per year."

But will the courts reduce the funding requirement because of this bill? Or will tax revenue go down, without a corresponding reduction in cost?

Why should anybody support this bill? >>

the students from the failing schools would be able to attend private and parochial schools anywhere they choose. That's the goal, school choice.

9 posted on 05/30/2006 6:36:49 PM PDT by Coleus (I Support Research using the Ethical, Effective and Moral use of stem cells: non-embryonic)

This sounds like a statement Teddy Kennedy would make. >>

this is voluntary, kennedy would make it mandatory. this bill is all about choice, a corporation and any NJ citizen could donate money to this fund for a tax write off and the student could attend any private school where they please.

10 posted on 05/30/2006 6:38:26 PM PDT by Coleus (I Support Research using the Ethical, Effective and Moral use of stem cells: non-embryonic)

The Limousine Liberals and the Country Club RINOs should step up to the plate, donate their millions to scholarship funds and quit picking our pockets to do their "good works".

I am all for people helping people, when the people who want to help chose to do the help themselves. That's dedication, noble concern and altruism. All noble qualities. Stealing from Paul to educate Peter is not.

Would the tax credits apply to donations to private charities, or does this bill establish a gov't-controlled state fund?

If it gives tax credits for donations to private charities, then it seems like legislation we should support here. (Of course, the Ds after the names make it look suspicious).

12 posted on 05/30/2006 7:11:32 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes (That's taxes, not Texas. I have no beef with TX. NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation.)

rich people and corporations do as they will donate to the fund in return for a tax writeoff.

Really? I didn't know that. I put myself through college, and I didn't get a tax write-off.

13 posted on 05/30/2006 8:10:13 PM PDT by Cobra64 (All we get are lame ideas from Republicans and lame criticism from dems about those lame ideas.)

I don't know why a conservative won't support this bill.

Something called accountability. Something that too many parents and the school system do not have.

14 posted on 05/30/2006 8:15:17 PM PDT by Cobra64 (All we get are lame ideas from Republicans and lame criticism from dems about those lame ideas.)

You have this hang up about "tax write-offs." Why?

Maybe all the TIME I've put in for my Church I should invoice them for, and then write a credit and write off my services.

15 posted on 05/30/2006 8:21:17 PM PDT by Cobra64 (All we get are lame ideas from Republicans and lame criticism from dems about those lame ideas.)

You have this hang up about "tax write-offs." Why? >>>

this is a sound alternative to school vouchers where the battle can be won for school choice. It's not the taxpayer's money paying for the voucher, it's people and businesses donating money to a fund that will be used to pay for the student. Currently, there are no bills in the NJ legislature to give tax breaks to people who donate time to their churches. Why is this concept of tuition tax credits so hard to understand?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tuition+tax+credits+instead+of+vouchers

16 posted on 05/30/2006 9:57:10 PM PDT by Coleus (I Support Research using the Ethical, Effective and Moral use of stem cells: non-embryonic)

Something that too many parents and the school system do not have. >>>

Right, and that's why there are proposed tuition tax credits for school choice for parents and their children where they are given the option to send their children to private and parochial schools.

17 posted on 05/30/2006 9:58:52 PM PDT by Coleus (I Support Research using the Ethical, Effective and Moral use of stem cells: non-embryonic)

Really? I didn't know that. I put myself through college, and I didn't get a tax write-off. >>>

for the third time, learn the issue before you respond. This bill is for poor, inner-city school children who attend failing schools where this will afford them the opportunity to attend a Catholic, parochial or private school without the taxpayer paying for it as a voucher would.

This has nothing to do with you or other people going to college, there is financial aid and federal student loans for those who can't afford it. And students to have a choice to attend which college they want to attend. The average inner-city student or most public school students in America do not have a choice to where they go to school.

18 posted on 05/30/2006 10:03:23 PM PDT by Coleus (I Support Research using the Ethical, Effective and Moral use of stem cells: non-embryonic)

Rewind 50 years. What structure was in place then?

Why are conditions today different from what they were since the dawn of America? It's called the nanny state.

19 posted on 05/30/2006 10:15:56 PM PDT by Cobra64 (All we get are lame ideas from Republicans and lame criticism from dems about those lame ideas.)

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