( - promoted by jmelli)
While the political hired guns for the Kean and Menendez camps have thrown reasoned discussion to the dogs and are busy painting their candidates' opponent as someone who has the ethics of Al Capone but is not as bad as, say, Pol Pot (wait until Nov. 4, though, when the really wacky accusations will start flying), our Governor has been proposing some solid ideas on combating New Jersey's multiple municipal madness.
The Star-Ledger's Tom Hester and Robert Schwaneberg are reporting that Governor Corzine is encouraging a reduction in the number of public school districts in the state from over 600 to 21. While the Gov is touting the obvious cost savings of such a measure, a bonus benefit would be that it would promote increased diversity in the 21 county school districts, although he did not get into specifics:
By combining many small districts into fewer larger ones, "you end up having greater diversity in your school system," Corzine said. "If you went to a county system, you'd have a much broader, diverse community."
Corzine said he is not supporting local government or school district consolidation as a way to confront segregation in New Jersey schools, but he sees it as a side benefit of consolidation in the interest of property tax relief.
New Jersey is insanely segregated by race and class. Most often, municipal boundaries are the dividing line between a future of hope and expanding horizons for young people or one of little opportunities. In my home county, just stroll from poor, crime-ridden Plainfield into tony Scotch Plains next door, a distance of only a few hundred yards. Compare housing values and school performance data.
While I don't think that the Governor's plan (if enacted) will destroy neighborhood schools, it may make school administrators more serious about designing relevant curricula and other policies if their students hailed from a broader spectrum of households. It would also benefit students from all social, ethnic and economic groups who will be exposed to peers who aren't just like them. Third, making rich people sweat from time to time is probably a good thing. |
