By John Mooney
Christie calls them necessary antidote to ‘failure factories,’ while Buono says desperately needed funds are being diverted
Through nearly two dozen questions, there was no mention of public schools during last night’s debate between Gov. Chris Christie and state Sen. Barbara Buono.
But in the penultimate question, the candidates were asked about Christie’s support for school vouchers through the proposed Opportunity Scholarship Act and Buono’s opposition to that legislation. And the ensuing exchange ended up summarizing nicely their positions on a couple of education issues.
Here’s the full transcript of that exchange, along with a scorecard ranking who won or who lost – at least on this topic.
Question from Alfred Doblin, editorial page editor, The Record: “If New Jersey were to allow parents to obtain vouchers to attend any public or private schools, would this undermine our system of public education or would it force needed improvements in under-performing districts?”
Buono answer: “It would certainly undermine it. I am a proud graduate of public schools, and this governor’s overreliance on vouchers and his support of vouchers reflects his belief that public schools aren’t worth fixing. He couldn’t be more wrong. I believe you build up our public schools by funding them according to the School Funding Reform Act and close the achievement gap by investing in preschool. We know that’s what works, and it’s not some glorified babysitting.”
Christie answer: “It is very clear to me. We have 200 failing schools in New Jersey, and there is only one candidate on this stage who said that is not a bad percentage, and that was Sen. Buono. We need to change what is going on in failing schools, and I’m an advocate for vouchers in failing school systems to create competition and most importantly to give those parents and those children a choice to walk out of those failure factories and reach their full God-given potential. The interest of children should be put before the interests of adults.”
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