DC
Voucher Legislation Approved by the Senate The New Jersey Catholic Conference is pleased to learn that the children of Washington, DC will have an opportunity to participate in a school choice initiative under the DC Voucher legislation approved by the Senate as part of the omnibus appropriations bills. However we regret that New Jersey’s Senators – Corzine and Lautenberg – voted against both the decision of the US Senate to end the filibuster of the bill as well as the bill itself (which contained the DC Voucher provision). Certainly, there is ample evidence of the need for similar voucher pilot programs in urban areas of New Jersey, where thousands of students continue to be trapped in failing schools. At a time when New Jersey’s taxpayers are drowning under the weight of local property taxes, both state and federal legislators continue to refuse to engage in a reasoned public dialogue on a school choice bill which would both reduce the property tax burden and enhance the educational opportunities for New Jersey’s neediest children. We hope that the anticipated success of the DC Voucher program will strengthen the resolve of our legislators to remove the strangle hold of the public school establishment on the lives of those children most in need of a quality education. New
Jersey Catholic Conference
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